SingTel profit beats estimates

Singapore Telecommunications, Southeast Asia’s biggest phone company, reported an unexpected increase in third-quarter profit after boosting sales at home and in Australia.

Net income rose 0.8 per cent to S$998.2 million ($784 million) in the quarter ended in December, SingTel, as the company is also known, said in a statement today.

Revenue rose 5.7 per cent to S$4.7 billion on growth in Singapore and Australia, the company’s biggest markets, which made up for lower contributions from regional operations such as Bharti Airtel. in India and Indonesia’s PT Telekomunikasi Selular. CEO Chua Sock Koong is counting on smartphones such as Apple’s iPhone and investments in startups to revive profit growth as markets saturate worldwide.

“Their regional associates are not doing well because competition is keen in countries such as India and Indonesia,” Alfred Low, an analyst at Philip Securities in Singapore, said before the results.

New Delhi-based Bharti reported a worse-than-expected 41 per cent drop in profit on February 2. SingTel owns 32 per cent of Bharti, India’s biggest wireless provider, and 35 per cent of PT Telekomunikasi Selular in Indonesia.

To boost growth and get access to new technologies, SingTel last year set up a S$200 million venture fund to invest in start-ups. The company will work with innovators, government agencies and research organizations to explore new technologies, according to Chua.