Singapore telecoms operator M1 Limited has published its financial results for the fourth-quarter and year ending 31 December 2017, showing that net income in 4Q17 dipped 2.5% year-on-year to SGD31 million (USD23.5 million) from SGD32 million, and full-year profits slumped 11.5% to SGD133 million. EBITDA for the quarter increased by 3.3% y-o-y, however, to SGD74 million but for the year, it declined 3.1% to SGD302 million, the firm said in its presentation. M1 attributed the fall in profits to increased depreciation, amortisation and higher interest expenses. Service revenue of SGD215 million in 4Q17 marked a 2.1% decline on an annualised basis – although it climbed 22.1% quarter-on-quarter (from SGD252 million) – while for the year, service revenue reached SGD806 million, compared to SGD806 million in FY 2016, driven by higher sales from fixed services.
The operator reported that fixed services increased by 33.0% y-o-y to SGD36 million in the fourth quarter, and climbed 24.5% to SGD130 million for the year, and accounted for 15.7% of service revenue compared to 12.9% a year ago. Sales derived from mobile – the group’s main revenue generator – were stable at SGD165 million in the fourth quarter (4Q16: SGD160 million) and SGD642 million for the year (FY 2016: SGD640 million). International call services, meanwhile, contributed a further SGD56 million in turnover in 2017, down from SGD61 million previously. Full-year CAPEX was SGD151 million (+7.6% y-o-y).
During the October-December period, M1 said it added a net 20,000 post-paid and 11,000 pre-paid mobile subscribers to close out the year with 2.039 million. M1’s average revenue per user (ARPU) for its post-paid segment was little changed on-year at SGD49.6, while the pre-paid segment saw its ARPU decline by 8.7% to SGD10.5, the company said. Mobile post-paid churn was 1.2% in 4Q17 (unchanged), while SAC (per post-paid customer) increased 8.0% to SGD473 from SGD438. ‘It is expected that competition will increase in 2018 with the anticipated entry of new mobile service providers,’ M1 added. Turning to fixed services, M1 had a total of 189,000 fibre broadband subscribers at 31 December 2017, up from 160,000 a year earlier; fibre ARPU increased 4.4% y-o-y in the fourth quarter, to SGD45 a month.