www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Due to the increase in the revenue at the regional businesses and the Optus unit in Australia, the fourth quarter profit of Southeast Asia’s largest phone company, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd rose 12 percent. Revenues from mobile division units of SingTel including Bharti Airtel Ltd. and PT Telekomunikasi Selular also contributed to the fourth straight quarter of profit growth of the company.

Singtel’s earnings increased by 12 percent to S$546 million, courtesy the performance of its regional mobile units. Indonesia’s largest mobile-phone company, Telkomsel’s earning surged 26 percent to S$205 million on revenue growth from an increased customer base and currency movements. 8.6 percent rise in earnings to S$245 million has also been posted by Bharti Airtel. Globe Telecom Inc., SingTel’s Philippine unit, posted a 23 percent decline in profit to S$61 million. Earnings from Advanced Info Service Pcl, Thailand’s biggest mobile-phone rose 4.6 percent to S$53 million.

According to Chief Executive Officer Chua Sock Koong, it’s too early to determine the impact on earnings of a proposal by India’s telecommunications regulator to impose a fee on operators such as Bharti.

Net income of the company gained to S$1.02 billion ($740 million), full-year profit rose 13 percent to S$3.91 billion, revenue rose 25 percent to S$4.46 billion and it had 293 million mobile-phone customers at the end of the quarter, or 17 percent more than a year earlier. The fourth-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization were little changed at S$579 million in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, the company is targeting new Australian subscribers through its mio TV service, with broadcasts of World Cup soccer matches starting next month. As SingTel spent more to attract mobile-phone customers and add new content to mio TV, the division’s profit margin dropped 4.5 percentage points to 35.3 percent. Witnessing a strongest mobile-phone customer growth in five years, Sydney-based Optus income rose 5 percent to A$610 million ($545 million).