STEng – BT
Warthog keeping Taliban at bay
Vehicle’s success has led to a rethink on British tactics in Afghanistan
EVEN as hardware made by Singapore Technologies Engineering (STE) were put through their paces by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) at the National Day Parade yesterday, a tracked fighting carrier made by the group has continued to win battlefield accolades in the service of British forces.
In a report last Friday, The (London) Telegraph highlighted the success of the Warthog, a 22-ton tracked armoured vehicle whose off-road ability allows it to frequently outflank the fleet-footed Taliban in Afghanistan. The vehicle’s success has led to a rethink on British tactics as it is not only able to deliver troops and supplies, it can also bring down heavy firepower from unexpected directions, the paper said.
The Warthog, a variant of the Bronco which is used by the SAF, can carry up to a dozen soldiers who can be deployed either to fight insurgents or engage with the local population to build up an intelligence picture of tribal communities.
‘It has almost certainly saved lives after 11 Warthogs were hit in one tour by large IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device) without anyone inside being killed although two were badly wounded,’ The Telegraph reported. The Warthog has also proved adept at being able to drive through the notoriously difficult terrain of Helmand province’s irrigated ‘green zone’.
In one epic six-week-long battle earlier this year, the vehicles provided a perimeter defence for the Royal Engineers as they laid a key road in central Helmand called Route Trident. With heavy weaponry such as heavy machine guns and grenade launchers, the Warthogs kept the Taliban at bay.
‘You can put Warthog into places you would not dream of with other armoured vehicles as it has very low ground pressure giving us the ability to move around the battlespace in a completely different way,’ Major James Cameron, the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment squadron commander, the first to use the vehicle on operations, was quoted as saying. ‘We have been able to manoeuvre in an extraordinary way. Literally we can go over ditches, swim rivers or go up ravines getting right in behind the enemy where they least expect us. We run on them at speed and before they know anything about it we are right on top of them.’
Towards the end of the unit’s six-month tour, radio intelligence showed that Taliban commanders were warning their men, ‘Don’t fire at the tank’.
The Warthog was first introduced to the British forces in 2009. It was the first armoured vehicle to be built for a Western army by an Asian company. When ST Kinetics, the land division of STE, won a £150 million contract for 115 vehicles from the British, it represented a major breakthrough for the Singapore company.
STE produced the first Warthog within nine months of the order, on time and ahead of schedule although there was a delay of several months as the armour protection was improved. The Warthog was ordered to replace the BAE Systems’ Viking, which is being withdrawn from service after almost a quarter of the fleet was destroyed by Taliban bombs.
STE beat BAE Systems, which had offered a Viking II variant, to the British contract.
Land Transport – BT
PTC gives nod for net 1% hike in bus, train fares
THE Public Transport Council (PTC) has allowed an overall net fare adjustment of one per cent, and operators SBS Transit and SMRT can expect a combined increase in annual revenue of $15 million.
From Oct 8, 2011, adult card fares for buses and trains will go up by two cents a journey, while senior citizen concessionary card fares will increase by one cent a journey although senior citizens will now get concessionary travel all day throughout the week.
Child/student concessionary card fares remain unchanged. But cash fares for adult bus and train rides will be 10 cents higher per trip across-the-board. There will be no change to senior citizen and child/student cash fares.
The PTC said that overall, the average fare increase translates to about 15 cents a week or about $8 a year for the 85 per cent of commuters who would experience a fare increase.
In July, the two public transport operators applied for the maximum fare adjustment of 2.8 per cent allowed under the fare formula for 2011, citing rising fuel and manpower costs.
‘The approved fare adjustment of one per cent is significantly less than the quantum of adjustment that the operators have applied for,’ said PTC chairman Gerard Ee.
He said that the decision comes after careful deliberation, and the council balanced the need to keep fares affordable with the long-term viability of the public transport operators so that they can continue to make capital investments and provide the expected quality of service.
Mr Ee cited the example of SMRT, which has already bought 238 new buses for $100 million to renew and expand its fleet from next month until December 2012, and SBST, which has purchased 600 buses for $268 million for delivery this year and the next.
‘We have tried to keep the fare adjustment small for commuters but we know that any fare adjustment, no matter how small, would still be felt by commuters, especially those from needy families,’ he said, adding that those who need additional assistance will get help from the government’s Public Transport Fund. To help needy families cope with the fare adjustment, the government together with SMRT and SBS Transit have set aside $4 million to fund 200,000 public transport vouchers.
Mr Ee also said that the PTC focused on senior citizens because of the greying population and to support moves to encourage them to work beyond retirement age.
The PTC said that the fare adjustment took into consideration Singapore’s economic outlook and the affordability of public transport.
‘The economic outlook remains positive with the latest forecast for GDP to grow by 5-7 per cent in 2011, and the latest unemployment rate as at June 2011 remains low at 2.1 per cent,’ the council said. ‘The public transport affordability indicator has also been on a downtrend for the past seven years, falling from 5.3 per cent in 2003 to 3.7 per cent in 2010. This indicates that bus and train fares have remained affordable for the majority of commuters.’
Under the fare formula, the maximum fare adjustment allowable is calculated by subtracting 1.5 per cent from the Price Index, where 1.5 per cent is the productivity extraction set for the five years from 2008-2012. As for the Price Index, it is derived from adding half of the change in the Consumer Price Index over the preceding year, to half of the change in the average monthly earnings for all workers over the preceding year.
The PTC delayed 2011’s fare adjustment to coincide with the opening of the final two phases of the Circle Line on Oct 8. The exercise usually takes place in the middle of the year.
This year’s hike comes on the back of two straight years of cuts. Last year, the PTC granted an overall 2.5 per cent reduction in bus and train fares and that took effect on July 3, 2010 with the introduction of Distance Fares. Under Distance Fares, the transfer penalty was removed completely, so commuters travelling the same distance pay the same fare for the same type of service, whether they travel direct or make transfers. Then, the PTC said that the 63 per cent of commuters who enjoyed fare savings spent an average of 48 cents a week less, or $25 a year. As for the 34 per cent of commuters who saw an increase in their public transport expenditure, the average increase was 31 cents a week or $16 a year.
In 2009, SBST and SMRT announced that they would not apply for fare adjustments that year due to the global financial crisis. Both worked with the PTC to pass back savings from the 2009 Singapore Budget, so that from April 1, 2009, commuters benefited from an overall 4.6 per cent cut in bus and train fares.
Under the fare adjustment formula in 2009, the public transport operators could have applied for an increase of up to 5 per cent. But before 2009, fares were increased in the preceding three years – 0.7 per cent in 2008, 1.1 per cent in 2007, and 1.7 per cent in 2006.
Land Transport – BT
PTC gives nod for net 1% hike in bus, train fares
THE Public Transport Council (PTC) has allowed an overall net fare adjustment of one per cent, and operators SBS Transit and SMRT can expect a combined increase in annual revenue of $15 million.
From Oct 8, 2011, adult card fares for buses and trains will go up by two cents a journey, while senior citizen concessionary card fares will increase by one cent a journey although senior citizens will now get concessionary travel all day throughout the week.
Child/student concessionary card fares remain unchanged. But cash fares for adult bus and train rides will be 10 cents higher per trip across-the-board. There will be no change to senior citizen and child/student cash fares.
The PTC said that overall, the average fare increase translates to about 15 cents a week or about $8 a year for the 85 per cent of commuters who would experience a fare increase.
In July, the two public transport operators applied for the maximum fare adjustment of 2.8 per cent allowed under the fare formula for 2011, citing rising fuel and manpower costs.
‘The approved fare adjustment of one per cent is significantly less than the quantum of adjustment that the operators have applied for,’ said PTC chairman Gerard Ee.
He said that the decision comes after careful deliberation, and the council balanced the need to keep fares affordable with the long-term viability of the public transport operators so that they can continue to make capital investments and provide the expected quality of service.
Mr Ee cited the example of SMRT, which has already bought 238 new buses for $100 million to renew and expand its fleet from next month until December 2012, and SBST, which has purchased 600 buses for $268 million for delivery this year and the next.
‘We have tried to keep the fare adjustment small for commuters but we know that any fare adjustment, no matter how small, would still be felt by commuters, especially those from needy families,’ he said, adding that those who need additional assistance will get help from the government’s Public Transport Fund. To help needy families cope with the fare adjustment, the government together with SMRT and SBS Transit have set aside $4 million to fund 200,000 public transport vouchers.
Mr Ee also said that the PTC focused on senior citizens because of the greying population and to support moves to encourage them to work beyond retirement age.
The PTC said that the fare adjustment took into consideration Singapore’s economic outlook and the affordability of public transport.
‘The economic outlook remains positive with the latest forecast for GDP to grow by 5-7 per cent in 2011, and the latest unemployment rate as at June 2011 remains low at 2.1 per cent,’ the council said. ‘The public transport affordability indicator has also been on a downtrend for the past seven years, falling from 5.3 per cent in 2003 to 3.7 per cent in 2010. This indicates that bus and train fares have remained affordable for the majority of commuters.’
Under the fare formula, the maximum fare adjustment allowable is calculated by subtracting 1.5 per cent from the Price Index, where 1.5 per cent is the productivity extraction set for the five years from 2008-2012. As for the Price Index, it is derived from adding half of the change in the Consumer Price Index over the preceding year, to half of the change in the average monthly earnings for all workers over the preceding year.
The PTC delayed 2011’s fare adjustment to coincide with the opening of the final two phases of the Circle Line on Oct 8. The exercise usually takes place in the middle of the year.
This year’s hike comes on the back of two straight years of cuts. Last year, the PTC granted an overall 2.5 per cent reduction in bus and train fares and that took effect on July 3, 2010 with the introduction of Distance Fares. Under Distance Fares, the transfer penalty was removed completely, so commuters travelling the same distance pay the same fare for the same type of service, whether they travel direct or make transfers. Then, the PTC said that the 63 per cent of commuters who enjoyed fare savings spent an average of 48 cents a week less, or $25 a year. As for the 34 per cent of commuters who saw an increase in their public transport expenditure, the average increase was 31 cents a week or $16 a year.
In 2009, SBST and SMRT announced that they would not apply for fare adjustments that year due to the global financial crisis. Both worked with the PTC to pass back savings from the 2009 Singapore Budget, so that from April 1, 2009, commuters benefited from an overall 4.6 per cent cut in bus and train fares.
Under the fare adjustment formula in 2009, the public transport operators could have applied for an increase of up to 5 per cent. But before 2009, fares were increased in the preceding three years – 0.7 per cent in 2008, 1.1 per cent in 2007, and 1.7 per cent in 2006.
StarHub – BT
StarHub Q2 net jumps 34.3% to $78m
STARHUB’S second-quarter net profit jumped 34.3 per cent to $78 million, from $58.1 million last year, as operating expenses fell in the absence of premium pay-television content such as the World Cup and Barclays Premier League (BPL).
Earnings per share for the three months ended June 30 rose to 4.54 cents, from 3.39 cents in 2010. Q2 revenue stayed flat at $568.6 million.
Last year, StarHub was heavily weighed down by the cost of bringing the Fifa World Cup to local soccer fans. Speculation was rife then that local operators had paid nearly $20 million to finally put an end to the protracted negotiations over the content deal.
With the weight now lifted, the firm’s operating expenses eased 3.1 per cent to $477.2 million in Q2.
StarHub saw a slight topline improvement in three of its four key business segments in the April-June period.
Mobile sales, which accounts for nearly 60 per cent of its service revenue, rose 2.9 per cent year-on- year to $302.5 million.
This was largely due to a 4.4 per cent increase in post-paid subscriber revenue to $239.2 million in the second quarter. Sales from the pre-paid segment dipped 2.6 per cent to $63.3 million in the period.
This company attributed the pre-paid decline to the expiry of certain promotional cards and a database clean-up to comply with regulatory requirements.
StarHub’s total mobile subscriber base grew by 8,000 to 2.15 million at the end of Q2. Revenue from the broadband and fixed network services segments rose 3 per cent and 2.2 per cent to $61 million and $83.4 million respectively during the period.
The exception to the rule was StarHub’s pay-TV unit, which saw its sales slide 15.7 per cent to $92.3 million after it slashed its sports package pricing to reflect the loss of the BPL broadcast rights to rival Singapore Telecommunications. The absence of one-off takings from the World Cup also contributed to the decline, the firm said.
Despite the BPL loss, the firm still managed to grow its pay-TV base by 3,000 year-on-year to 544,000.
‘Although there’s competition, customers are still keeping our (set-top) box. They’re maintaining two (pay-TV set-top) boxes,’ StarHub’s chief operating officer Tan Tong Hai said in a conference call yesterday.
In June, the firm announced plans to raise its monthly pay-TV pricing by $2 from this month. However, the move is not expected to lead to a significant customer loss, StarHub CEO Neil Montefiore added.
For the first six months of this year, StarHub’s net profit soared 46 per cent to $147.1 million, while revenue stayed flat at $1.13 billion.
Looking ahead, the operator now expects its full-year operating revenue to grow in the low single- digit range, a downward revision from the single-digit forecast it had earlier issued as a result of a flat top line in H1.
In addition, the boon it was initially expecting from the ongoing Next-Gen NBN (National Broadband Network) rollout, particularly from the corporate market, may not come through this year, Mr Montefiore said.
StarHub shares closed closed 8 cents lower yesterday at $2.83 before its Q2 earnings were released.
StarHub – BT
StarHub Q2 net jumps 34.3% to $78m
STARHUB’S second-quarter net profit jumped 34.3 per cent to $78 million, from $58.1 million last year, as operating expenses fell in the absence of premium pay-television content such as the World Cup and Barclays Premier League (BPL).
Earnings per share for the three months ended June 30 rose to 4.54 cents, from 3.39 cents in 2010. Q2 revenue stayed flat at $568.6 million.
Last year, StarHub was heavily weighed down by the cost of bringing the Fifa World Cup to local soccer fans. Speculation was rife then that local operators had paid nearly $20 million to finally put an end to the protracted negotiations over the content deal.
With the weight now lifted, the firm’s operating expenses eased 3.1 per cent to $477.2 million in Q2.
StarHub saw a slight topline improvement in three of its four key business segments in the April-June period.
Mobile sales, which accounts for nearly 60 per cent of its service revenue, rose 2.9 per cent year-on- year to $302.5 million.
This was largely due to a 4.4 per cent increase in post-paid subscriber revenue to $239.2 million in the second quarter. Sales from the pre-paid segment dipped 2.6 per cent to $63.3 million in the period.
This company attributed the pre-paid decline to the expiry of certain promotional cards and a database clean-up to comply with regulatory requirements.
StarHub’s total mobile subscriber base grew by 8,000 to 2.15 million at the end of Q2. Revenue from the broadband and fixed network services segments rose 3 per cent and 2.2 per cent to $61 million and $83.4 million respectively during the period.
The exception to the rule was StarHub’s pay-TV unit, which saw its sales slide 15.7 per cent to $92.3 million after it slashed its sports package pricing to reflect the loss of the BPL broadcast rights to rival Singapore Telecommunications. The absence of one-off takings from the World Cup also contributed to the decline, the firm said.
Despite the BPL loss, the firm still managed to grow its pay-TV base by 3,000 year-on-year to 544,000.
‘Although there’s competition, customers are still keeping our (set-top) box. They’re maintaining two (pay-TV set-top) boxes,’ StarHub’s chief operating officer Tan Tong Hai said in a conference call yesterday.
In June, the firm announced plans to raise its monthly pay-TV pricing by $2 from this month. However, the move is not expected to lead to a significant customer loss, StarHub CEO Neil Montefiore added.
For the first six months of this year, StarHub’s net profit soared 46 per cent to $147.1 million, while revenue stayed flat at $1.13 billion.
Looking ahead, the operator now expects its full-year operating revenue to grow in the low single- digit range, a downward revision from the single-digit forecast it had earlier issued as a result of a flat top line in H1.
In addition, the boon it was initially expecting from the ongoing Next-Gen NBN (National Broadband Network) rollout, particularly from the corporate market, may not come through this year, Mr Montefiore said.
StarHub shares closed closed 8 cents lower yesterday at $2.83 before its Q2 earnings were released.