SingTel Group’s mobile customer base reached 198 million 
ConvergenceAsia staff
11/08/2008

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) has announced that the Group’s combined mobile customer base in the region has reached 197.71 million as at 30 June 2008.

Compared to a year ago, the Group’s mobile customer base in the eight markets – Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – grew 45 per cent from 136.35 million customers. On a quarterly basis, the increase was 6.7 per cent.

On a proportionate share basis, the customer base grew 42 per cent year-on-year or 7.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter to 70.76 million.

The regional associates increased their mobile customer bases by between 14 per cent and 63 per cent compared to a year ago.

In the three months to 30 June 2008, Bharti added another record 7.40 million new customers to bring its total mobile customer base to 69.38 million. Bharti’s customers constituted 35 per cent of the Group’s combined mobile base.

Telkomsel attracted 1.11 million new mobile customers during the quarter. With a customer base of 52.44 million customers, it remained Indonesia’s leading cellular company.

AIS also continued to lead the market in Thailand. During the quarter, it attracted more than 877,000 new customers. Its total base of 25.96 million customers represented about 46 per cent share of the Thai market.

Globe added 1.46 million mobile customers to bring its total base to 22.74 million as at 30 June 2008.

For the same period, Warid increased its base by 1.10 million customers to reach 15.49 million mobile customers while in Bangladesh, PBTL saw its total CDMA base growing to 1.70 million customers.

Optus’ total customer base reached 7.24 million as at 30 June 2008. During the quarter, it added 101,000 new mobile subscribers, of which 87,000 were in postpaid.

The number of its 3G subscribers also rose to 1.87 million, a 33 per cent increase compared to a quarter ago. Optus continued to expand its 3G HSPA mobile network. As at 30 June 2008, its 3G network provided coverage to more than 80 per cent of the population.

In a competitive market which saw the implementation of full Mobile Number Portability (MNP) on 13 June 2008, SingTel continued to gain more customers in Singapore.

It added 182,000 new mobile customers in the quarter to bring its total mobile customer base to 2.75 million as at 30 June 2008.

With a strong presence in the foreign worker segment, SingTel’s prepaid customer base grew 151,000 in the quarter. As at 30 June 2008, it had 1.34 million prepaid customers.

The demand for 3G mobile services grew steadily. SingTel had 961,000 3G mobile subscribers as at 30 June 2008, representing 68 per cent of its total postpaid base.
 

Regional mobile customer base at a glance

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