Singaporean mobile operator turned broadband provider M1 Limited (M1) has published its financial results for the three months ending 30 September 2018, highlighting a 5.5% year-on-year dip in net profit to SGD34.5 million (USD25 million), down from SGD36.5 million a year ago. The carrier reported operating revenue improved by 10% y-o-y to SGD275 million, but noted that operating expenses increased too – by 14% – to SGD231 million, attributed in the main to higher handset costs. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) stood at SGD77 million in the three months under review, down 3.6% from SGD80 million in 3Q17; a period in which post-paid ARPU fell to SGD40.80 per month, while pre-paid ARPU dropped to SGD10.50.
For the third quarter of 2018, revenue from mobile services generated SGD142.6 million of the total (SGD129.4 million from post-paid and SGD13.2 million from pre-paid), aided by contract users rising by a net 90,000 y-o-y to around 1.36 million. However, in the same period pay-as-you-go SIMs slumped by a net 152,000, down to 584,000, as M1’s total base declined to 1.95 million from over two million at end-September 2017.
Turning to fixed telephony services, M1 said that sales derived from data access and IT amounted to SGD38 million, a net increase of SGD8 million on an annualised basis thanks to a higher fibre customer base and an improved ‘contribution from corporate projects’. Fibre customers climbed by a net 22,000 connections over the year, to a total of 204,000, with fibre broadband ARPU also edging up to SGD38.60 per month – boosted by last year’s launch of a 10Gbps symmetrical service. International call services revenue fell, however, down to SGD9.8 million in 3Q18 from SGD13.9 million; and handset sales accounted for SGD84.5 million in revenue, jumping from SGD63 million last year.