SingTel plans acquisition in China and US (Singapore)
Leading telecom operator in Singapore, SingTel has hinted towards acquiring businesses in China or US, to make up or slow growth in its domestic market.
As per a statement made by the company, SingTel may raise its stakes in associates in Asia and Africa and make other strategic investments. The company reported a 30 percent jump in fourth-quarter profit. Net income climbed to $1 billion in the three months ended March 31.
Chief Executive Officer Chua Sock Koong, said that when they look at acquiring the technology know how in the start up space, they could be looking at quite a few different places. She added that it could be startups in Silicon Valley, California or in countries such as India and China.
The company added that group revenue at the Singapore and Australia operations are forecast to grow at low single-digit rates this year while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization may be stable. Further, dividends from associates in Asia and Africa are expected to grow.
SingTel to strengthen position in India (Singapore,India)
SingTel Global (India) is looking to strengthen its presence in India by building five more Point of Presence (PoPs) within the next two years.
According to reports, Arun Dagar, MD, SingTel India, said that they may come up with 5 more PoPs (Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh and two more cities) in the next 2 years depending on the growing demand. They are seeing demand for global connectivity in pharmaceutical companies. By 2014, they are planning to expand it to five more cities and double their workforce.
Donny Cheah, regional managing director, said that they are focusing on Indian businesses who are expanding globally especially into the APAC region for they have the managed connectivity infrastructure in place besides experienced people who are well versed with local business environment and languages.
SingTel divests its entire stake in Far EasTone (Singapore)
Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) announced that it has divested its entire 3.98 per cent equity interest in Taiwan’s Far EasTone Telecommunications Co., Ltd.
A total of 129,571,696 shares were sold at an average price of $2.1 per share, for a cash consideration of approximately $272.8 million. The transaction was by way of an on-market sale. SingTel will recognise a gain of approximately $95 million in the first quarter ending 30 June 2012.
SingTel announces plans to revamp organisation (Singapore)
Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) today announced a new organisation structure to capture emerging opportunities in a new era, as customer usage behaviours and preferences evolve rapidly with the proliferation of new devices, content and technology.
With a scale of over 400 million mobile customers, strong customer relationships and knowledge as well as extensive touch points, SingTel seeks to leverage these unique assets to develop relevant and differentiated services to customers and drive growth in the new era.
The new organisation structure will support the Group’s key objectives of reinventing SingTel’s core carriage business, creating and driving new growth platforms that leverage and strengthen the core and turbo-charging SingTel’s regional capabilities in ICT services.
Comprising three units, the new structure reflects the Group’s re-alignment of people and resources by customer segments. It will also sustain growth, competitiveness and innovation into the future. The new structure takes effect on 1 April 2012.
Group Consumer, led by Mr Paul O’Sullivan, will focus on setting new benchmarks in customer experience as the leading provider of next-generation communication, infotainment and technology services to consumers and small businesses across Asia Pacific. The unit consolidates all consumer-related functions and includes the Group’s international business in the emerging markets, allowing it to fully leverage the scale of its more than 400 million mobile customers.
Group Digital L!fe, headed by Mr Allen Lew, will lead the Group’s journey to becoming a leading player in the digital ecosystem, beyond connecting voices to bringing people together with innovative and cutting-edge digital services. This unit will complement the Group’s consumer offerings with state-of-the-art digital services through bundles and add-ons. Mr Lew and his team also carry a strong mandate to serve customers and other industry players globally.
Group ICT brings together all enterprise-related business units and will focus on providing ICT solutions to serve the Group’s enterprise customers, offering innovative and comprehensive IT and telecommunications solutions across multiple geographies. Mr Lew will be the covering CEO as the Group searches internally and externally to fill the position.
Ms Chua Sock Koong, SingTel Group CEO, said that SingTel has a long history of quietly, but successfully, making bold and industry-shaping investments. They now see some of the largest and most exciting opportunities that have ever existed in this industry. The changes to how they organise themselves are necessary in order to align the people and resources to sharpen their focus and take advantage of these opportunities.
Globe Telecom launches new apps portal under ‘MyAppsMall’ (Philippines)
Philippines telecom operator Globe has partnered with parent company Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel), in bringing to the country ‘MyAppsMall’, a new apps store enabling customers to search, purchase and download mobile applications and games in a single portal.
According to company reports, Globe prepaid and postpaid subscribers will be able to avail this service for free. MyAppsMall offers a combination of over 20,000 free and paid apps ranging from games, entertainment, social networking, productivity, lifestyle, sports, news, finance, and weather and is accessible via mobile browser (m.apps.globe.com.ph) or via PC web browser (apps.globe.com.ph).
Once registered, users can personalize their homepage with social networking sites, emails, news updates and RSS feeds. Users will also be provided with a free MyApps email account for an easier and more secure access.
In order to make the user experience more enjoyable, MyAppsMall can be accessed via a single portal, eliminating the need for users to go to multiple sites just to search for various applications that suit their interests. Its cross-platform support lets users find content suited specific to their mobile device, whether Android, Symbian, Java or BlackBerry.
Further, in an attempt to offer convenience to users, purchasing apps on the MyAppsMall do not necessitate a credit card. The amount purchased will be automatically charged to the users Globe prepaid or postpaid bill.
MyAppsMall also provides an exclusive platform for application developers to create, distribute and monetize their apps to an international market, making content available not only to the Philippines but also to the rest of the region covered by SingTel via its multiple market base.
Through the operator billing capability, subscribers from other SingTel affiliates can also purchase content from MyAppsMall, while subscribers from networks outside the SingTel Group can still buy apps using their credit cards. This further widens potential market for local developers, exposing their creations to a vast audience from around the world.
Glenn Estrella, Head, Globe Digital Media, has said that they are very excited with this new offering for their subscribers, leveraging on their strong affiliation with SingTel. Through MyAppsMall, their subscribers get the best mobile browsing experience by getting exclusive access to their apps of choice. Purchase for paid apps is so convenient and worry-free with the secure billing platform, with costs directly charged to user’s prepaid load or postpaid account.
Further, with this innovation, Globe and SingTel are also helping expose Filipino talent and creativity to the global market by tapping local developers and allowing them to sell their apps and services. With the MyAppsMall portal, there is indeed everything for everyone, and with Globe, everyone can enjoy it their way.
SingTel reports 9.6 per cent decline in Q3 results (Singapore)
Leading telecom operator in Singapore, SingTel has reported a decline of 9.6 percent in its Q3 net profit results owing to a weak performance by Indian associate Bharti Airtel in its last quarter results.
According to company reports, the net income fell from US$ 796 million in Q3 2010 to US$ 717 million in the same quarter this year. Further, the company reported a net profit of US$ 719 million in the third quarter of 2011 as compared to US$ 796 million in the same period last year.
As per a statement made by the company, the strong gain in mobile customers in Singapore during the quarter led to higher acquisition and retention costs, while contributions from the regional mobile associates declined due to their weaker currencies and 3G losses from Bharti India.
Indian operator and Singtel’s associate Bharti Airtel reported a decline of 22 percent for its net profit in Q3 2011, primarily owing to a reduction in mobile phone usage by its subscribers and increased expenditure for the roll-out of 3G services.
SingTel launches global cloud-based service (Singapore)
Mobile operator SingTel has launched a global cloud-based service that enables companies to secure, control and manage corporate data and mobile devices of their employees, regardless of their location. The SingTel Mobility Device Manager (MDM) service, enables companies to manage devices of different mobile OS and ensure information security for mobile devices used by their workforce. This includes company-issued devices, as well as those belonging to employees.
According to company reports, Bill Chang, Executive Vice President (Business Group), SingTel has said that they are seeing a surge in the number of companies that allow their employees to bring their own mobile devices for work. In fact, the use of smartphones for business activities worldwide is projected to grow by 116 per cent by 2014. This opens up new security issues, particularly for companies with regional operations. With SingTel MDM, companies can secure data through security policy settings and governance, control on devices, manage apps deployment and control cost through usage policy management. These can all be done via the simple-to-use web-based portal.
Further, in the event of the loss or theft of an employee’s mobile device, an administrator can remotely lock the device or selectively erase corporate data to prevent market sensitive information from falling into the wrong hands. Administrators can determine the location of the missing devices and remotely deploy and track apps downloads within the enterprise. They are also able to configure and provision the devices over-the-air.
The report alsoreveals that SingTel MDM is compatible with all mobile OS platforms including iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, Symbian and Windows Mobile. In addition, it is independent of the location and mobile network, thus facilitating the seamless control of mobile devices globally.
Chang added that as SingTel MDM is offered on a monthly subscription basis, companies do not need to make upfront investments in equipment and can avoid the ongoing costs of managing and maintaining complex systems and hardware. This allows them to improve their productivity, increase business agility and reduce their operating costs significantly.
SingTel announces LTE price plans (Singapore)
Singapore based wireless operator, SingTel, is offering users faster mobile broadband services with the help of its LTE (Long Term Evolution) network. According to reports, the operator is expected to offer users download speeds of up to 75 Mbps charged at US$ 54 on a monthly basis.
As per company reports, the operator will initially launch its new service in select areas of Singapore and hopes to cover as many as 80 percent of its users by the end of next year. Currently, the service will be made available on the USB dongles and sources claim that the Samsung Galaxy S II will be the first LTE enabled smartphone in Singapore, to be launched in the first quarter of 2012.
SingTel ties up Symantec for cloud security services (Asia)
Singapore based service provider SingTel has reportedly tied up with Symantec for cloud security services. According to reports, the operator plans to target both the large corporate along with the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with its latest security service.
The feature has reportedly been termed PowerON Security and consists of cloud-based e-mail along with web and endpoint security products from Symantec. As per sources, the subscriptions charged at $3 onwards are offered at a monthly basis.
According to company reports, SingTel believes that a company having 300 users would be able to achieve savings upto 75 percent over 3 years.
Sources claim that Bill Chang, Executive vice president, SingTel, has reportedly said that the carrier aims to grow its cloud customer base of 150,000 users at a larger than 50 percent CAGR over the next 3 years.
Bharti Airtel’s profit contribution to SingTel falls 37 percent in Q2 (India, Singapore)
Bharti Airtel’s contribution to its biggest shareholder SingTel reached the lowest in the past six quarters, when it fell by 37 percent to US$ 101.4 million for the second quarter. The decline in Airtel’s contribution is also considered to be the reason for SingTel falling short of analysts’ forecasts.
According to reports, Weng Cheong, CEO, SingTel said that this quarter, the investments by Airtel in its Indian 3G network and African operations incurred license fees amortisation and financing costs, which combined with weaker regional currencies, had dampened their results.
As per sources, Bharti Airtel had been the leading contributor towards SingTel’s profits prior to June 2009, after which Telkomsel Indonesia came in the frontline. Reports reveal that at the end of the second quarter, Telkomsel’s contribution to SingTel’s profits went up by 1.4 percent to US$ 180.4 million while that from Advanced Info Service PCL rose 17.3 percent to US$ 60.3 million compared to the same period last year. Further, company reports indicate that Bharti Airtel accounted for 15 percent of SingTel’s profit of $ 682.9 million for the three months ended September 2011.
