Price wars savage telcos' average revenue per user

Lower revenues in voice, IDD, and roaming usage are all factors.

The average revenue per user (ARPU) of Singapore's three giant telcos are under pressure, no thanks to lower revenues in voice, IDD, and roaming usage.

According to OCBC Investment Research, ARPU is expected to remain weak due to heightened competition and adoption of over-the-top services as subscribers switch to using data for calls.

M1, Singtel, and StarHub collectively added 73,000 in net new postpaid subscribers. The proportion of 4G users has risen to around 86% of the total 3G and 4G subscriber base of the three telcos as of 30 September 2017.

OCBC analyst Eugene Chua said, "In our view, the trend of increasing data usage will persist, as the telcos continue to offer higher and even unlimited data plans to entice consumers to switch to them, though these plans may not be the best way to monetize data usage for now."