SingTel Grows Its Mobile Base

SINGAPORE -- Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) announced that the Group posted strong growth in customer acquisitions with a combined regional mobile customer base of 285 million as at 31 December 2009, an increase of 23 per cent, or 52 million from a year ago.

Bharti added 8.4 million mobile customers this quarter, up from 8.1 million a quarter ago. Its mobile customer base as at 31 December 2009 increased 39 per cent, or 33.2 million from a year ago, to 118.9 million.

Telkomsel’s mobile customer base grew by 25 per cent, or 16.3 million from a year ago, to 81.6 million.

Following two quarters of negative net additions as it churned out lower quality prepaid customers, Globe added 117,000 customers in the quarter. Globe had 23.2 million mobile customers as at 31 December 2009, down 5.9 per cent or 1.5 million from a year ago.

AIS’ mobile customer base grew 4.7 per cent, or 1.3 million, to 28.8 million. Warid’s total mobile customer base rose to 18.8 million as at 31 December 2009, 11 per cent, or 1.9 million higher than a year ago. PBTL gained 7.7 per cent, or 139,000 more mobile customers, bringing its total customer base to 1.9 million.

Compelling propositions drive sustained growth for Optus

Optus’ postpaid customer base grew a record 164,000 during the quarter, resulting in the postpaid customer base exceeding 4 million as at 31 December 2009.

During the quarter, Optus tightened its churn policy for customers who remained inactive after various recharge campaigns, and deactivated 272,000 prepaid customers. This resulted in a decline of 145,000 Optus prepaid customers this quarter with total prepaid customers of 4.2 million as at 31 December 2009.

Customer growth was achieved through Optus’ compelling propositions including refreshed wireless broadband plans, smartphone plans, unique content and applications and industry-leading “Timeless” plans.

In the quarter, the number of 3G customers increased to 3.34 million, an 8.7 percent increase from a quarter ago.

Singapore continued to lead market

SingTel added 81,000 new customers in the quarter, bringing its total mobile customer base to 3.2 million as at 31 December 2009, an increase of 8.1 per cent from a year ago.

SingTel’s enhanced iPhone offerings helped drive strong demand for the device and contributed to 36,000 new postpaid customers, up from 30,000 in the previous quarter. SingTel gained 45,000 prepaid customers with continued success from its targeted acquisition initiatives.

Demand for 3G mobile services remained strong with increased penetration of smartphones. SingTel’s total 3G mobile customer base grew steadily by 65,000 in the quarter to 1.41 million as at 31 December 2009.

SingTel Optus Pty. Ltd.