[Vnbiz] SingTel quarterly profit rises 13 percent, says it wants to invest in Vietnam

[Phan, Tai]

SingTel quarterly profit rises 13 percent, says it wants to invest in Vietnam
The Associated PressPublished: February 8, 2007


SINGAPORE: Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. said Thursday its profit rose 13 percent in the most recent quarter thanks largely to contributions from its regional units, and also said it was interested in investing in Vietnam.

SingTel, Southeast Asia's biggest phone company in terms of revenue, said net profit for the three months through December rose to 994 million Singapore dollars (US$648 million; EUR498 million) from S$882 million in the year-earlier period.

"In Singapore, we recorded strong revenue growth in the telco business while extending leadership in the data and Internet market," said Lee Hsien Yang, the company's outgoing chief executive.

Underlying net profit, which strips out goodwill and exceptional items, was S$850 million (US$554 million; EUR425 million) in the fiscal third quarter, up 9.6 percent on year from S$775 million.

Operating revenue, which includes only business in Singapore and Australia, rose slightly to S$3.38 billion (US$2.2 billion; EUR1.69 billion) from S$3.36 billion (US$2.19 billion; EUR1.68 billion) a year earlier.

 Numbers out on how rich the YouTube deal wasSingTel, which has units in India, Indonesia and elsewhere in the region, said it is keen to invest in Vietnam as that nation's market opens up. The Hanoi government has been considering liberalizing the country's telecommunications sector for some time but no decisions have been made.

"Vietnam is in our area of interest," Chua Sock Koong, SingTel's deputy CEO.

"The timing (of the liberalization) is entirely up to the Vietnamese government," said Chua, who is due to take over from Lee as chief executive in April.

Chua also reiterated that SingTel would like to increase its 30.5 percent stake in India's Bharti Airtel Ltd. if British telecommunications company Vodafone Group PLC sells its 10 percent holding in the Indian phone operator.

"Our objective is to increase our stakes in associates ... and Bharti is one of them. But it's not clear if Vodafone will sell its stake," Chua said.

Vodafone would have to offload its Bharti assets if it is successful in its bid for India's fourth-largest operator, Hutchison Essar Ltd.

SingTel's Australian unit Optus, which contributes over two-thirds of SingTel's revenue, posted a 3.9 percent drop from the second quarter in operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, while net profit fell 15 percent to 135 million Australian dollars (US$105 million; EUR81 million).

"Despite negative impacts on revenue growth from reduced mobile termination rates, Optus remains committed to maintaining market share, managing costs and investing for growth," said Optus Chief Executive Paul O' Sullivan.

SingTel saw higher pretax profit contributions from its associates in India and Indonesia, but saw smaller contributions from its other associates.

SingTel's share of pretax profit from India's Bharti Airtel Ltd. grew 68 percent on-year and its share of pretax profit from Indonesia's Telkomsel rose 8.6 percent due largely to higher subscription numbers in those countries.