SingTel's net profit up marginally in Q4

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, Souththeast Asia's largest telecommunications operator, announced on Thursday that its net profit for the fourth quarter has increased marginally by 0.08 percent to 946 million Singapore dollars (690 million U.S. dollars), the highest in ten quarters.

The company attributed the growth to the "currency fluctuations offset increasing mobile data usage by its customers."

Operating revenue for the quarter fell 6 percent due to reduced mobile termination rates in Australia and lower handset sales in Singapore. In constant currency terms, it would have dipped 3 percent.

"Mobile data was the bright spot. Our regional markets are now making their respective transitions from mobile telephony to mobile internet and harnessing the benefits of extensive investments in 3G and 4G networks and services," Chua Sock Koong, Singtel Group CEO, said

For the full financial year ended March 2016, its group net profit was up 2 percent to 3.87 billion Singapore dollars (2.8 billion U.S. dollars) and underlying net profit was stable at 3.81 billion Singapore dollars (2.78 billion U.S. dollars). In constant currency terms, net profit would have grown 6 percent and underlying net profit by 4 percent.

Operating revenue dipped 1.5 percent to 16.96 billion Singapore dollars (12.4 billion U.S. dollars), but would have risen 4 percent in constant currency terms. Enditem