SingTel customer base up by 23%

SingTel has registered strong growth in customer acquisitions with a combined regional mobile customer base of 285 million as at 31 December 2009, a 23 percent increase or 52 million from a year ago.

A total of 81,000 new customers have been added to SingTel in the quarter, bringing its total mobile customer base to 3.2 million as of 31 December 2009. This presents an increase of 8.1 percent from a year ago.

In a release, SingTel said its enhanced iPhone offerings helped drive strong demand for the device and contributed to 36,000 new postpaid customers, up from 30,000 in the previous quarter. SingTel also gained 45,000 prepaid customers in the same period.

Demand for 3G mobile services remained strong with increased penetration of smartphones. SingTel's total 3G mobile customer base grew steadily by 65,000 in the quarter to 1.41 million as of 31 December 2009.

In particular, SingTel's second largest investment Bharti added 8.4 million mobile customers this quarter, up from 8.1 million a quarter ago. Its mobile customer base as of 31 December 2009 increased to 11.9 million which is 39 percent higher, or 33.2 million from a year ago.

Telkomsel's mobile customer base meanwhile went up by 25 percent, or 16.3 million from a year ago, to 81.6 million.

Following two quarters of negative net additions as it churned out lower quality prepaid customers, Globe similarly added 117,000 customers in the quarter. Globe had 23.2 million mobile customers as of 31 December 2009, down 5.9 percent or 1.5 million from a year ago.

AIS' mobile customer base likewise grew 4.7 percent, or 1.3 million, to 28.8 million. Warid's total mobile customer base rose to 18.8 million, 11 percent or 1.9 million higher than a year ago. PBTL also gained 7.7 percent, or 139,000 more mobile customers, bringing its total customer base to 1.9 million.

As for SingTel's biggest overseas investment, Optus' postpaid customer base grew a record 164,000 during the quarter, resulting in the postpaid customer base exceeding 4 million.

During the quarter, Optus deactivated 272,000 prepaid customers who remained inactive even after recharge campaigns. This resulted in a decline of 145,000 Optus prepaid customers this quarter with total prepaid customers of 4.2 million as of 31 December 2009.

In the quarter, the number of 3G customers also increased to 3.34 million, an 8.7 percent increase from a quarter ago.