Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) today reported that its aggregate mobile customer base reached 273 million as at 30 September 2009, up 26% year-on-year, or 57 million, from a year ago. On a quarterly basis, the group’s regional operations in eight markets – Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – expanded by more than eleven million from 262 million as at 30 June 2009, the company said in a statement. The single largest year-on-year growth was recorded by SingTel’s Indian associate Bharti Airtel, where the number of mobile users on its books grew by 43% y-o-y to 110.5 million at the end of the period, while Indonesia’s Telkomsel reported a strong 32% y-o-y rise for a total of 79.8 million users, it said. Meanwhile, Advanced Info Service in Thailand reported net growth of 5.6% compared with a year ago for a total of 28.3 million subscribers, SingTel reported.
Warid in Pakistan upped its total user base by 14% y-o-y to 18.5 million and SingTel’s Aussie associate Optus reported an 11% expansion for a total of 8.2 million mobile users as at end-September. The only blot on the landscape was the group’s Filipino associate Globe Telecom which posted a year-on-year decline of 600,000 users, a 2.6% decline, for 23.1 million users at the end of the period.