SingTel Group’s mobile customer base reaches 445 million (Singapore)

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) announced that the Group posted another quarter of strong growth in customer acquisitions. As at 31 March 2012, the Group had a total mobile customer base of 445 million, an increase of 11 per cent or 42.9 million from a year ago.

Airtel’s total mobile customer base reached 241 million as at 31 March 2012, an increase of 29.2 million or 14 per cent from a year ago. In India, Airtel’s mobile customer base grew by 19.1 million or 12 per cent to 181 million. During the quarter, Airtel introduced ‘Airtel Money’, India’s first telco-led mobile wallet service on a nationwide basis.

In Africa, Airtel had a total mobile customer base of 53.1 million, an increase of 8.9 million or 20 per cent. In the quarter, Airtel expanded the rollout of its 3G services to five more countries in Africa: Ghana, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania.

Telkomsel’s total mobile customer base stood at 110 million, up 10.5 million or 11 per cent.  Its market share was at approximately 43.3 per cent as at 31 March 2012, up 0.4 percentage point from a quarter ago.

Optus continued its postpaid customer growth momentum with net additions of 82,000 this quarter which included a one-off reduction of 33,000 to a wholesale service provider’s customer base. Excluding this adjustment, postpaid customer net additions this quarter were 115,000.

Prepaid customers were stable at 4.29 million. Net additions for the full year were 421,000, bringing Optus’ total mobile customer base to 9.49 million, up 5 per cent from a year ago. Postpaid customers comprised 55 per cent of the total base, up 2 percentage points from a year ago.

The number of 3G customers increased to 6.63 million, a 6 per cent increase from a quarter ago. This included a base of 1.58 million wireless broadband customers, an increase of 23 per cent from a year ago.

In Singapore, SingTel further grew its market leadership to 45.9 per cent. Its total mobile customer base grew by 273,000 customers or 8.3 per cent from a year ago to 3.58 million as at 31 March 2012.

Full year net additions in the postpaid segment were 171,000 customers, lifting total postpaid customer base by 9.6 per cent to 1.95 million. The growth was driven by increasing demand for smartphones and data SIMs from integrated mobile broadband bundles.

In the prepaid segment, SingTel’s customer base grew by 102,000 customers or 6.7 per cent to 1.63 million, led by strong demand for 3G offerings such as 3G SIM, data and Blackberry value added services. SingTel continues to drive data usage among prepaid customers, empowering them with faster Internet access at lower costs with the introduction of ‘Opera Mini Browser’.