SINGAPORE - Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, Southeast Asia's largest telecommunications operator, reported an 11 percent rise in third-quarter net profit, helped by strong mobile data growth and higher contributions from its regional associates.
It posted a net profit of S$970 million for the three months ended December, compared with S$872 million a year ago.
The average forecast of three analysts polled by Reuters was for net profit of S$917 million.
Revenue rose nearly 4 percent to S$4.43 billion, helped by mobile customer growth and revenue from recent acquisitions in its digital business.
"In Singapore and Australia, we proactively acquired and recontracted customers on the back of smartphone launches and successfully upgraded them to higher tiered data plans," Chief Executive Officer Chua Sock Koong said in a statement on Thursday.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) fell 3 percent to S$1.23 billion, hit by higher subsidies on handsets.
Singtel's share of pre-tax profits from its regional mobile associates grew almost 24 percent, helped by Indonesia's PT Telekomunikasi Selular (Telkomsel) and Bharti Airtel Ltd, the top mobile phone operator in India, of which Singtel owns nearly a third.
Singtel's combined mobile customer base reached 543 million as at Dec 31, up 9 percent from a year ago.
The company maintained its previously issued outlook, but said mobile service revenue from Australia for the financial year is expected to increase in the low single digits, instead of decrease.