SingTel’s mobile customer base surges 13% to an amazing 434m in 2011

The group achieved its highest postpaid market share in five years, at 48%.

Singapore Telecommunications Limited’s total mobile customer base grew 13 per cent or 50.7 million from a year ago to reach 434 million as at 31 December 2011, according to a company statement.

Airtel’s total mobile customer base across its South Asia and Africa operations grew 17 per cent or 33.3 million from a year ago to 233 million as at 31 December 2011.

Its mobile customer base in India reached 176 million, an increase of 15 per cent, or 23.2 million from a year ago.

Airtel Africa crossed the 50 million mobile customer milestone. Its customer base grew 21 per cent or 8.8 million from a year ago to 51 million.

Telkomsel’s mobile customer base increased 14 per cent or 13 million from a year ago to 107 million. Telkomsel, Indonesia’s leading mobile operator, continued to enhance its network, deploying around 1,600 base stations in the quarter.

Optus continued its postpaid customer growth momentum with net additions of 113,000 this quarter. Postpaid customers comprised 54 per cent of the total base, up 2 percentage pointsfrom a year ago.

Prepaid customer growth increased this quarter with net additions of 69,000 as sales lifted and churn rates improved.

The number of 3G customers grew to 6.24 million, an increase of 5 per cent from a quarter ago. This included a base of 1.55 million wireless broadband customers, an increase of approximately 94,000 customers in the quarter.

Total mobile customers grew by 182,000 to 9.41 million, up 5 per cent from a year ago.

SingTel’s total mobile customer base grew 10 per cent or 320,000 from a year ago to 3.55 million, leading the overall mobile market at 45.8 per cent as at 31 December 2011.

In the postpaid segment, SingTel recorded its highest market share of 47.6 per cent in five years with an increase of 192,000 customers. This brought its total customer base to 1.92 million, a year-on-year increase of 11 per cent. The growth was driven by continued strong demand for smartphones and data SIMs for integrated mobile broadband bundles.

SingTel also extended its lead in the prepaid market with 43.8 per cent share of the market, up from 42.7 per cent a year ago. The prepaid customer base reached 1.63 million, an increase of 8.5 per cent from a year ago. The growth was led by positive customer response to successful 3G prepaid offerings, including 3G SIM card, data and Blackberry value added services.