Author: tfwee
M1 – BT
M1’s Q4 net profit up 1.6% at $37.2m
Revenue rises 11% to $216.2m, thanks to higher handset sales
MOBILEONE’s net profit inched up 1.6 per cent to $37.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2009, from $36.6 million for the year-ago comparative period.
For the full year ended Dec 31, 2009, net profit rose 0.1 per cent to $150.3 million, from 2008’s $150.1 million.
Fourth-quarter operating revenue rose 11.1 per cent year-on-year to $216.2 million. This was helped by higher handset sales, which surged 126.5 per cent year on year to $36 million for Q4 ’09 and 30.2 per cent to $80.9 million for FY09 mainly due to higher sales volume. Compared with 3Q09, it rose 135.9 per cent.
In Q4, MobileOne had thrown its hat in the iPhone ring and offered the Apple touchscreen phone to customers, after a 15-month monopoly on the phone by SingTel.
‘The response to the iPhone was overwhelming. Our shops have been kept very busy, far beyond our expectations,’ said Karen Kooi, MobileOne’s chief executive officer.
Operating revenue for 2009, however, dipped 2.4 per cent to $781.6 million due to lower service revenue.
Mobile revenue slipped 1.6 per cent year on year to $143.1 million in Q4 and 5.9 per cent to $565.7 million for 2009.
The post-paid segment saw revenue shrink 2.4 per cent to $124.7 million in Q4 because of lower voice usage and roaming revenue. Revenue from the pre-paid segment, however, grew 3.8 per cent in Q4 to $18.4 million.
MobileOne’s total customer base grew by 128,000 year-on-year and 40,000 quarter-on-quarter to 1.758 million customers in Q4, 52 per cent of which were post-paid customers and the rest, prepaid customers. Its overall market share was 25.7 per cent.
MobileOne will be banking on its Next Generation National Broadband Network (NGNBN) for growth in 2010.
‘The NGNBN, to be launched this second quarter, will present new and exciting opportunities for MobileOne. For 2010, we aim to grow revenue and mobile market share,’ said Ms Kooi.
‘Based on the current outlook, we foresee earnings this year to be comparable to 2009.’
Ms Kooi did not rule out MobileOne’s bringing in the Google Nexus One handset, saying that the company will review whether or not to bring in new phones, including Google’s.
A final tax-exempt dividend of 7.2 cents per share has been recommended, taking the group’s full-year payout to 80 per cent of net profit after tax for 2009. The interim dividend in 2009 had been 6.2 cents per share, bringing total dividend for the year to 13.4 cents per share.
Earnings per share rose 2.4 per cent year-on-year to 4.2 cents for Q4 but were flat for the year, at 16.8 cents.
MobileOne shares closed trading yesterday at $1.97.
SingTel – BT
SingTel lowers cost of fibre connectivity for businesses
THE promise of cheaper business connectivity he-ralded by the upcoming Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (Next Gen NBN) appears to be materialising even before the landmark digital highway is ready.
Singapore Telecommunications yesterday launched its cheapest fibre optic-based network service for businesses – dubbed Meg@POP eLite – which offers symmetrical data transmission speeds of up to 100 Mbps.
The latest addition to SingTel’s existing suite of secure fibre-based services, it is aimed at businesses that run heavy-duty networking applications such as cloud computing services and high-definition video conferencing.
‘In the market today, businesses typically pay about $500 per month for a 10 Mbps copper connection to their private office network,’ said Chan Yim Leng, SingTel’s vice-president of business products. The new service provides up to 10 times the speed for around the same price, she said.
Besides targeting businesses, SingTel is also eyeing service providers which can leverage on Meg@POP eLite to offer services such as Web hosting to other businesses.
Market watchers expect the Next Gen NBN to lead to lower business connectivity prices in Singapore, as it heralds a level playing field where ownership of the network is separate from services that tap on the network.
As a result, it is also expected that prices of existing business connectivity services will be falling in the months ahead.
The all-fibre Next Gen NBN is expected to reach 60 per cent coverage of all residential premises and commercial buildings by year-end, and achieve 95 per cent coverage by 2012.
M1 – BT
M1 to test ‘4G’ in Feb
MOBILEONE (M1) is testing a so-called fourth-generation – or 4G – cellular technology known as Long Term Evolution (LTE), which promises mobile broadband speeds zippy enough to dispatch bandwidth-sapping high definition (HD) TV content to mobile device users.
The telco said yesterday that it will be conducting a two-month trial from next month, and the public can get to witness this technology’s power at M1’s flagship store in Paragon, where there will be showcases of HD TV streaming and high-speed Web surfing over LTE.
M1 is currently modernising its 2G network to prepare it for a smooth transition to LTE. In the process, the telco expects to slash its telecommunications networks carbon footprint by up to 35 per cent by early 2011. This will be possible due to the use of energy-efficient equipment from Nokia Siemens Networks, which will see action in the upcoming LTE trial.
‘Our network modernisation contract with Nokia Siemens Networks represented our first steps in our evolution to LTE,’ said M1 chief technical officer Patrick Scodeller. ‘The trial will help pave the way for faster and better quality mobile broadband services in the future.’
Demand for mobile broadband services has been soaring, sparked by bullish sales of Internet-savvy smartphones such as the iPhone and Android phones. This has fanned interest in next-generation cellular technologies like the LTE, which is expected to succeed the popular High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) technology.
The LTE market is expected to be huge. According to Juniper Research, LTE services will exceed US$70 billion globally by 2014.
Last November, SingTel said it will be conducting LTE trials across Singapore, Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines in the first half of this year. It will be partnering Australian subsidiary Optus, Indonesia’s Telkomsel and the Philippines’ Globe Telecom for the trials.
STEng – DBS
ST Engineering bids for Indian defence contracts worth US$3bn
At a press conference in New Delhi last week, ST Kinetics, the Land Systems subsidiary of ST Engineering, said that it has bid for five Indian defence contracts worth USD 3 billion and is keen to set up a manufacturing base in the country. The tenders comprise two artillery gun projects and a light strike
vehicle for the army and two carbine rifle projects for internal security. ST Kinetics will begin field trials for the Indian Army next month of its 155 mm Towed Howitzer, where it will compete against the Bofors guns. The company is also hopeful that the stalled trial of the 155 mm Pegasus Lightweight Howitzer (LWH) will also recommence very shortly.
While the original tenders were floated last year, the trials had been put on hold till now, following the arrest of an Indian official for corruption charges in May 2009 – which had resulted in the apparent “blacklisting” of seven defence firms including ST Kinetics as the CBI was investigating their role in the charges. Last month, the defence ministry allowed field trials involving these companies and now ST Kinetics has affirmed that they were never blacklisted by India. We view this as a positive development, as it now allows STE to participate in the Indian Army’s urgent armament upgrade plans. India is upgrading its largely Soviet-era arsenal to counter potential threats from Pakistan and China. The Indian army needs new weapons urgently as its last major acquisition of Bofors Howitzers, was way back in 1986.
Among the other tenders, ST Kinetics will also bid to supply the Bronco All Terrain Tracked Carrier for frontline defence and disaster relief applications. According to ST Kinetics’ management, if all five tenders STE have bid for come through, it will generate additional revenue of USD 3 billion over five years. The Company also hopes to rake in USD 1 billion from nondefence business in India over 3-5 years, mainly through selling specialty vehicles used in mining, excavation and road construction. This is in line with our belief that STE will continue to benefit from increased government spending on defence and infrastructure in the region. Thus, we maintain our positive view on STE’s orderbooks and revenues, going forward, and continue to expect double digit earnings growth rates over FY09-11. Maintain BUY, TP S$3.80.
SingTel – BT
SingTel’s Premier League update
SINGTEL yesterday released some details of its Barclays Premier League programming for next season but said that it was still in negotiations with various production houses for review and analysis shows.
A fans feedback programme, an analysis show and a preview show will be aired every week, with content produced in high-definition in Singapore studios by ‘respected’ hosts and pundits, SingTel said.
Selected fans will also get a chance every week to attend a football game in England and also be part of the mio TV crew in the stadiums there, with access to press facilities and interviews.
While SingTel has poached sports channel ESPN to its cable television platform from competitor StarHub, ESPN is ‘just one’ of the houses that SingTel has approached, Singapore CEO Allan Lew said yesterday. Negotiations are under way and will be concluded by May, he said.
All 380 matches of the football season will be broadcast, and there is an option for customers to receive live ‘streaming’ of matches through their mobile phones.
Mr Lew said that subscriptions to mio TV had increased 70 per cent since SingTel launched its sports subscription package last November. Updated subscription numbers will be released when SingTel reports its quarterly results next month.
Mr Lew said that the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore was studying the possibility of allowing pay TV signals to be carried by co-axial cables within the home for home networking purposes.
SingTel caused a storm when it beat StarHub to the rights to broadcast the next three seasons of Barclays Premier League football in Singapore. Fans in Singapore complained of the inconvenience and cost of a different delivery platform.
StarHub yesterday said that it had secured exclusive rights to screen Brazilian league games in Singapore until 2011. Broadcast for the January to December season will begin this weekend.