Starhub’s broadband revenue dipped 17% in Q3 on back of cutthroat price competition

Net profit decreased 4% year-to-date.

StarHub’s Q3 results were impacted by a 17% year-on-year slip in broadband revenues. StarHub's service revenues were impacted by price competition in broadband revenue despite an increase in its subscriber base.

Net profit after tax was at $97.7 million and free cash flow at $118.1m in Q3. This represents a 4% decline on a year-to-date basis. On a year-on-year basis, net profit after tax increased 3% YoY for the quarter.

For the quarter, operating revenue increased 2% year-on-year to $592m compared to $578.8m in the same period last year. The increase was contributed by higher sales of equipment.

The Group’s EBITDA was also higher by 2% YoY at S$190.9 million and 1% lower YTD at S$555.5 million in Q3.

Here’s more from StarHub:

Segment-wise, Mobile revenue increased 1% YoY to S$310.9 million for the quarter and was stable at $927.1 million YTD. Compared to a year ago, post-paid ARPU decreased by S$1 to S$69 for the quarter.

For the YTD, it decreased by S$2 to S$68. Pre-paid ARPU was stable for the quarter at S$18 but was lower by S$1 to S$17 YTD. The lower YoY ARPU was attributed to lower voice usage.

Pay TV revenue increased 2% YoY for the quarter to S$97.4 million and by 1% YTD to S$289.6 million. These were mainly due to higher subscription revenue from an increased customer base.

For the quarter and YTD periods, Pay TV ARPUs were stable at S$51 and S$52 respectively. The customer base was higher at 539,000 and the average monthly churn was kept low at 0.9% for the quarter.

Fixed Network revenue increased 3% YoY for the quarter and 2% YTD respectively. Data & Internet services revenue, which makes up over 80% of the Fixed Network revenue, increased 4% to S$80.3 million from a year ago.

The increase was attributed to higher subscription on enterprise solutions of fixed data & internet services.

Voice services revenue decreased 6% YoY for the quarter to S$15.0 million, primarily due to lower local voice services revenue which were impacted by price erosions and market competition. YTD, Voice services revenue at S$43.2 million was 12% lower.