Singapore, 3 May 2006 -- Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel) today announced that the aggregate number of its mobile subscribers in the region has exceeded 85 million.

 

As at 31 March 2006, Singtel and its associates had 85 million customers, a 31 per cent increase from a year ago.   This is the largest mobile customer base in Asia outside of China.

 

On a proportionate basis, Singtel’s subscriber base in the seven markets – Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – increased 28 per cent from a year ago to more than 33 million. 

 

The strongest growth came from Singtel’s two Asian mobile associates, Bharti and Telkomsel. On a year-on-year basis, Bharti posted record subscriber growth of 78 per cent while Telkomsel saw a 51 per cent jump in mobile subscribers.

 

In the quarter, Singtel Optus acquired 189,000 customers, expanding its mobile customer base to 6.49 million.   This was almost a 10 per cent increase year-on-year.  The growth was achieved despite continued fierce competition in the Australian mobile market.

 

In Singapore, Singtel continued to lead the mobile market.   As at 31 March 2006, its mobile subscriber base increased to 1.66 million, of which approximately 130,000 were 3G subscribers. The take up of 3G services has accelerated due to positive response to Singtel’s revised 3G price plans and the increasing appeal and affordability of new 3G handset models.

 

More details of the market and financial performance of the seven mobile operations will be available when Singtel announces its results for the quarter and the full year ended 31 March 2006 on 4 May 2006.

 

At a glance

	Aggregate Subscriber Base (million)			Singtel’s Proportionate Subscriber Base (million)
	Mar 06	Dec 05	Mar 05	Mar 06	Dec 05	Mar 05
Optus	6.49	6.30	5.92	6.49	6.30	5.92
Singtel	1.66	1.62	1.57	1.66	1.62	1.57
Singtel’s regional associates	76.86	69.87	57.32	24.98	22.66	18.44
Total	85.00	77.79	64.81	33.13	30.58	25.93