SingTel third-quarter net profit up 6.0%

Screengrab from SingTel website

SINGAPORE—Singapore Telecom (SingTel) said Thursday its net profit rose 6.0 percent year on year in January-December, but a strong local dollar pared down overseas earnings.

Southeast Asia’s biggest telecom firm by revenue said net profit came in at Sg$872 million ($688 million) on strong performances by its regional affiliates.

Revenue totalled Sg$4.26 billion, it said in a statement.

“The (SingTel) group’s consumer business and the regional mobile associates performed strongly,” the firm added.

Pre-tax profit from SingTel’s regional mobile associates reached Sg$506 million in the three-month period, up 11.4 percent from the same quarter last year.

However, their contributions were weighed by a stronger Singapore dollar. SingTel’s share from its affiliates is converted into Singapore dollars.

The Australian dollar fell 9.0 percent against its Singapore counterpart during the quarter, while the Indonesian rupiah eased 18 percent and the Indian rupee dipped 12 percent.

In constant currency terms, net profit would have risen 13 percent, SingTel said.

SingTel has expanded beyond its small domestic market and owns partial stakes in India’s Bharti Airtel, Indonesia’s Telkomsel, Thailand’s Advanced Info Service, the Philippines’ Globe Telecom and Pacific Bangladesh Telecom.

It also wholly owns SingTel Optus in Australia.

The firm also said its combined mobile customer base as of end December climbed 9.0 percent to cross the half billion mark.

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