Singapore

Bharti breaks previous records for quarterly subscriber growth

Singapore, 4 February 2008 -- Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) today announced that the Group’s combined mobile subscriber base in the region has reached 171.54 million as at 31 December 2007.

Its mobile subscriber base in the eight markets – Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – went up by 53 per cent from 112.28 million customers a year ago. The latest figure was boosted by the addition of Warid Telecom’s 13.21 million subscribers in Pakistan in the quarter.

Record net-adds propelled Bharti’s subscriber base past 50-million mark

Bharti, the largest regional mobile associate in terms of the number of mobile subscribers, continued to grow exponentially. It broke its previous net additions records by attracting 6.29 million mobile subscribers in the quarter. As at 31 December 2007, it has enlarged its total subscriber base to 55.16 million mobile subscribers.

Continued healthy subscriber growth from other markets

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Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) announced that the aggregate number of mobile subscribers in the region, including its associates, has increased to 124 million as at 31 March 2007. This is the largest mobile customer base in Asia outside of China.

Compared to a year ago, the combined mobile subscriber base of SingTel, SingTel Optus and the Group’s five regional associates grew 46 per cent or by 39 million subscribers.

Compared to the previous quarter, the growth was 12 million customers. It marks the fourth consecutive quarter that the number of regional mobile subscribers has increased at a record pace.

On a proportionate to shareholding basis, SingTel’s subscriber base in the seven markets – Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – increased 38 per cent from a year ago to 46 million.

Among the associates, Bharti and Telkomsel again posted the largest subscriber growth rates.