- Singtel continues strong momentum
- Optus records its strongest quarter in five years
Singapore, 12 May 2010 – Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel) announced that the Group posted strong growth in customer acquisitions with a combined regional mobile customer base of 293 million as at 31 March 2010, an increase of 17 per cent, or 43 million from a year ago.
| Aggregate Customer Base (in 000s) | Proportionate Customer Base* (in 000s) | |||||
| 31 Mar 10 | 31 Dec 09 | 31 Mar 09 | 31 Mar 10 | 31 Dec 09 | 31 Mar 09 | |
| Singtel | 3,116 | 3,181 | 2,976 | 3,116 | 3,181 | 2,976 |
| Optus | 8,498 | 8,244 | 7,789 | 8,498 | 8,244 | 7,789 |
| Bharti | 127,619 | 118,864 | 93,923 | 39,849 | 37,126 | 27,962 |
| Telkomsel | 81,950 | 81,643 | 72,133 | 28,683 | 28,575 | 25,247 |
| AIS | 29,509 | 28,773 | 27,582 | 6,291 | 6,134 | 5,889 |
| Globe | 23,890 | 23,245 | 25,737 | 11,309 | 11,004 | 12,184 |
| Warid | 16,276 | 18,847 | 17,376 | 4,883 | 5,654 | 5,213 |
| PBTL | 1,909 | 1,949 | 1,874 | 859 | 877 | 843 |
| Group Total | 292,767 | 284,746 | 249,389 | 103,488 | 100,795 | 88,103 |
*Proportionate base represents the number of mobile customers of an associate multiplied by the Singtel Group’s effective percentage ownership in the venture at the respective dates.
Bharti added 8.8 million mobile customers this quarter, up from 8.4 million in the preceding quarter. As at 31 March 2010, its total mobile customer base was 127.6 million.
Telkomsel gained 9.8 million or 14 per cent more new mobile customers from a year ago, bringing its total base to 82 million. As at 31 March 2010, Telkomsel continued to lead the market with a share of approximately 46.2 per cent, down 2.8 percentage points from a quarter ago with aggressive competition.
AIS’ mobile customer base grew 1.9 million or 7.0 per cent from a year ago to 29.5 million. As at 31 March 2010, AIS’ market share was 44.4 per cent, an increase of 0.3 percentage point from a quarter ago.
Globe added 645,000 mobile customers in the quarter, an increase from 117,000 in the preceding quarter. As at 31 March 2010, its mobile customer base was 23.9 million.
Warid’s total mobile customer base stood at 16.3 million as at 31 March 2010, 1.1 million or 6.3 per cent lower than a year ago, as it deactivated 2.7 million customers from its system in compliance with regulatory requirements. Excluding the one-time deactivation, Warid added 149,000 customers during the quarter.
PBTL had 1.9 million mobile customers, an increase of 1.9 per cent, or 35,000, from a year ago.
Australia records strongest quarter in five years
Optus added 254,000 new mobile customers in the quarter, its strongest quarterly performance in five years, bringing its total mobile base to 8.5 million as at 31 March 2010, an increase of 9.1 per cent from the previous year.
With its continuing innovation in smartphone and wireless broadband offers, Optus added 596,000 new postpaid customers, an increase of 17 per cent year-on-year. Postpaid customers now comprise 49 per cent of Optus’ total mobile base, up 3 per cent from a year ago.
Optus’ total 3G mobile customer base grew to 3.61 million, a 7.8 per cent increase from the preceding quarter.
Singapore continues strong momentum
Singtel’s total mobile customer base increased 4.7 per cent to 3.1 million as at 31 March 2010 and maintained its lead position with a market share of 45.2 per cent.
Singtel added 25,000 new postpaid customers due to strong demand for its bundled smartphones offerings. Total postpaid customer base increased to 1.62 million, representing a leading market share of 46 per cent.
Demand for 3G mobile services remained strong with increased penetration of smartphones. Singtel’s total 3G mobile customer base grew steadily by 46,000 in the quarter to 1.45 million as at 31 March 2010.
In the prepaid segment, Singtel reduced the validity period of lower value cards to 90 days and deactivated 101,000 customers. This deactivation has no revenue impact and resulted in a net decline of 90,000 customers in the quarter. With a total prepaid customer base of 1.50 million, Singtel continued to lead the market with 44.4 per cent market share.
More information on the performance of the Singtel Group will be available when it announces its results for the fourth quarter and financial year ended 31 March 2010 on 13 May 2010.
About Singtel
Singtel is a strategic investor in the region’s most successful mobile operations. It has a 21.35 per cent stake in Thailand’s Advanced Info Service (AIS). In India, it has a 32.0 per cent effective interest in Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest GSM operator. One of Singtel’s earliest investments in the region is Globe Telecom in the Philippines. Today, it has a 47.34 per cent stake in Globe. Singtel has a 35 per cent stake in Indonesia’s largest mobile operator, Telkomsel. It also has a 45 per cent stake in Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (PBTL) and a 30 per cent stake in Warid Telecom in Pakistan. More information can be found at www.singtel.com and www.optus.com.au.
