Singapore telco M1, the city-state’s smallest operator by subscribers, reported that net profits for the three months to 30 June 2016 fell 7.5% year-on-year to SGD41.0 million (USD30.4 million) as revenue slumped 13.2% to SGD240.4 million and EBITDA fell 2% to SGD82.2 million. The company noted that mobile operations – the company’s core revenue generator – saw turnover down 2.4% due to a 7% decline in pre-paid sales and a 2% drop in contract revenue, as handset sales were slashed in half in the period under review. M1 said its post-paid customer base increased by a net 14,000 on a quarter-on-quarter basis and 53,000 y-o-y. Meanwhile, its pre-paid customer base increased by 24,000 q-o-q and 44,000 from a year ago, taking the overall total to 1.98 million at 30 June 2016. Average revenue per user (ARPU) for post-paid customers fell by 3.5% y-o-y for the quarter, while the pre-paid side saw its ARPU fall by a not insignificant 17.4%.
Fixed services revenue increased by 26.7% y-o-y to SGD50.0 million and now accounts for 12.3% of service revenue. The increase was driven by growth of 9,000 residential and corporate fibre customers in the quarter, bringing its base to 145,000; ARPU, though, fell by 2.6%. Finally, M1 reported that international call services revenue continues to fall. In the second quarter of 2016, the segment’s revenue clocked a decline of close to 12%.