Singapore's leading telecom firm SingTel today reported 24 per cent increase in net profit at 991 million Singapore dollars (about $699 million) for the three months ending December 31, 2009, fuelled by strong growth in regional telecom businesses.

In the year-ago period, the company had a net profit of 799 million Singapore dollars, SingTel said in a statement.

SingTel attributed its robust profit growth to its businesses in Singapore, Australia and other regional mobile associates which have been witnessing improved performance.

The company added that the contribution of India's Bharti Airtel, which holds about 32 per cent stake, to its profit grew by 4.6 per cent to 235 million Singapore dollars for the October-December quarter.

"Bharti's pre-tax profit in Singapore dollar terms rose 4.6 per cent to 235 Singapore dollar million. Operating revenue was stable amid an intense price war in the Indian market," SingTel said.

In the July-September quarter of 2009, Bharti contributed 236 million Singapore dollars to SingTel's overall profit.

SingTel said Bharti added 8.4 million mobile customers in the quarter to take the subscriber base to 118.9 million as on December 31.

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