Telco report card: Which amongst the players delivered in Q4?

Only one telco did.

In the battle of telcos for the past quarter, only Singtel emerged as the winner, with a net profit up 2% to $973m.

"Singtel continued to deliver, with 3QFY17 results in line with expectations. The Singapore consumer business saw growth in broadband and pay-TV, as well as cost containment," a report from UOB KayHian said.

Its regional mobile associates, including Telkomsel, performed aboe expectations as well. Telkomsel’s mobile subscribers expanded 14% yoy while data revenue grew 28% YoY.

Meanwhile, the report noted that the IPO of NetLink Trust could provide special dividends of up to 17.5 Singapore cents/share and has to be completed by Apr 18.

On the other hand, StarHub is on the losing end, with its net profit slumping 33.2% to $54m in the past quarter due to a combination of higher handset subsidies, less grants from NGNBN and a one-off provision for restructuring.

"As a result, the group reduced its dividend guidance from 5 Singapore cents to 4 Singapore cents/quarter for 2017," UOB said.

M1 also recorded a decline in net profits, down 27.1% to 31.8m, as OTT services eat up marketshare of international call and roaming.