Singaporean telecoms operator M1 Limited (M1) has published its unaudited group financial results for the first six months of the year, showing a 2.4% year-on-year rise in service revenue to SGD382 million (USD303 million), aided by strong growth in the customer base and an increased contribution from fixed services. Group net income however, declined 11.5% y-o-y to SGD75.7 million as a result of higher handset subsidies. M1’s free cash-flow of SGD85.6 million was up 38.1% on an annualised basis.
The carrier said that revenue from non-voice services rose by 1.9 percentage points to account for 37.1% of service revenue, fuelled by sustained growth in the number of users with smartphones, which now accounts for 71% of total post-paid customer base. In the three months ended 30 June 2012, M1 added a net 21,000 mobile customers, taking the total to 2.035 million. Monthly post-paid churn improved to 1.3%, compared to 1.5% in the preceding quarter, it said. M1 also confirmed that the launch of nationwide fourth-generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) services is scheduled to occur towards the end of the third quarter, at which date it will publish a range of new tiered smartphone plans.
As at 30 June 2012, M1 also had 56,000 fixed services customers, out of which 37,000 were fibre-optic connections.