SingTel

[cyclone]

Potential union of Australian telecom rivals a boost for Singtel

By: Bloomberg
23/08/18, 02:57 pm

SINGAPORE (Aug 23): A potential marriage between two rivals in Australia could bring joy to Southeast Asia’s largest telco, Singapore Telecommunications.

A merger between Vodafone Hutchison Australia and TPG Telecom would see Singtel facing less competition in Australia, where it generates over half of its revenues.

“If a deal does proceed, we believe it would be positive for Singtel’s Australian business, Optus," Citigroup Global Markets Inc.’s analyst Arthur Pineda writes in a note.

Singtel shares surged as much as 7.5% on Thursday, the most since May 2009 after Vodafone Hutchison and TPG Telecom said they were in “exploratory” discussions for a potential merger.

A deal would also have implications for Singtel’s domestic market of Singapore as a TPG Telecom unit won the bid to become the city-state’s fourth mobile-phone operator.

More details in https://www.theedgesingapore.com/potenti...st-singtel

[BlueKelah]

Potential union of Australian telecom rivals a boost for Singtel

By: Bloomberg
23/08/18, 02:57 pm

SINGAPORE (Aug 23): A potential marriage between two rivals in Australia could bring joy to Southeast Asia’s largest telco, Singapore Telecommunications.

A merger between Vodafone Hutchison Australia and TPG Telecom would see Singtel facing less competition in Australia, where it generates over half of its revenues.

“If a deal does proceed, we believe it would be positive for Singtel’s Australian business, Optus," Citigroup Global Markets Inc.’s analyst Arthur Pineda writes in a note.

Singtel shares surged as much as 7.5% on Thursday, the most since May 2009 after Vodafone Hutchison and TPG Telecom said they were in “exploratory” discussions for a potential merger.

A deal would also have implications for Singtel’s domestic market of Singapore as a TPG Telecom unit won the bid to become the city-state’s fourth mobile-phone operator.

More details in https://www.theedgesingapore.com/potenti...st-singtel

I am not so sure that will be a boost for Optus. If anything, the Aussie economy is on a straight line down in the near term, that could impact consumer spending. Seems they are changing Prime Minister again, very unstable political environment.

However i did read that Singtel is in talks to acquire 1million+ subscribers Amaysim which is a reseller of Optus mobile service. Amaysim has quite good prepaid plans and service.

The singtel shorts must be getting squeezed, what a big jump in price.

[Greenrookie]

Ya... I am wondering about the local implications. A stronger post merger TPG - Vonda means more money to buy or better to withstand low margin ?? In order to gain market share.

If Australia market with 25 Mio population in the end has 3, why is singapore having 4, will we go down the same route where after cut throat competition, one get buyout or merged ?

[dreamybear]

For those who are interested - Sign up free SIM cards here : https://www.tpgmobile.sg/. My personal experience is registration is only opened in the morning(abt 9am), and closes off a few hours later. Cards are applicable to both Apple & Android.  

I am using them as supplementary lines on Android to save a little bit of money(voice + data), so far quite reliable.

On the impact of these free TPG SIM to Singtel & other interesting questions, scroll to "8. Interesting soundbites from the analyst call"  on     https://risknreturns.com/2019/02/16/sing...highlights

PS : I am not related to the website.

[dreamybear]

Guess this is an advantage of a govt linked co. - GIC can step in and help to fill up the "shortfall" to maintain significant ownership stake.

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GIC picks up Singtel’s tab sinking S$1b into “junk-rated” Indian telecom company
2019-03-11

..... About a week ago, Bharti Airtel decided to announce plans to raise nearly Rs32,000 crore (S$6.2 billion) through a combination of rights issue and perpetual bonds. Bharti Airtel was planning to raise Rs25,000 crore (S$4.9 billion) through rights issue and the remaining via perpetual bonds.

The fundraising is to help reduce Bharti Airtel’s current massive net debt estimated to be Rs 1.06 lakh crore (S$21 billion) as at the end of last year. It’s current market capitalization is about Rs 1.3T (S$25 billion).

Currently, the single biggest shareholder of Bharti Airtel is Singtel, holding 39.5%. It has decided to renounce part of its rights to be picked up by GIC. As a result, Singtel’s stake in the Bharti Airtel will fall to 35.2% after the rights issue, while GIC will own about 4.4% for the first time. .....

More details at https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2019/03...m-company/

[cyclone]

Singtel posts lowest annual profit in 16 years, citing ‘intense’ regional competition
* Singapore Telecommunications on Wednesday posted its smallest annual net profit in 16 years partly due to the intense competition faced by its regional associates in India and Indonesia.
* Singtel, Southeast Asia’s largest telecom operator, reported a net profit of S$773 million ($565 million) for the quarter ended March, almost flat versus the year-ago period.

CNBC with Reuters
PUBLISHED 15 May 2019

Singapore Telecommunications on Wednesday posted its smallest annual net profit in 16 years — but the big drag on earnings came from Indonesia and India, according to its CEO.


Singtel, Southeast Asia’s largest telecom operator, reported a net profit of S$773 million ($565 million) for the quarter ended March, almost flat versus the year-ago period. Its underlying net profit, which excludes exceptional items, fell 15 percent to S$697 million.

Singtel Group CEO Chua Sock Koong told CNBC’s “Street Signs” that fourth-quarter trends were “definitely more encouraging” than the full-year numbers.

“If you look at the fourth-quarter numbers, you see very strong pickup and, in fact, topline revenue growth is about 6% on constant currency terms,” she said. “You’ve seen good growth coming through consumer businesses both in Singapore and Australia.”

Chua also told CNBC that Singtel’s digital business showed “very strong topline growth” but its earnings were weighed down by India and Indonesia.

“Intense competition has affected the markets in India and Indonesia this past year,” Chua said in a separate statement.

The company continued to be optimistic about the growth potential of its associates’ markets, she added.

“We will accelerate our digitalisation efforts to drive better customer experience and improve productivity and cost structure by transforming our processes,” she said.

The company reported net profit of S$3.1 billion for the year ended March versus S$5.47 billion a year ago, which had included a divestment gain from the listing of its broadband unit NetLink NBN Trust.

More details in https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/15/singtel-...ition.html

See also  https://links.sgx.com/1.0.0/corporate-an...uddies.com

[dreamybear]

Will it be a case of déjà vu in the event of a dividend cut, i.e. Starhub's share price sharp correction ?
Shareholders(myself included) may need to monitor the situation closely.

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Singtel may cut dividend for first time in 20 years, says DBS Research
Updated 1 hour ago

SINGAPORE - DBS Equity Research says Singtel may cut its "unsustainable" dividend rate to 13 to 15 cents per share for its next fiscal year starting April 2020 (FY2021) in order to maintain its credit rating, in a report out on Thursday (Oct 10).

Singtel has either maintained or raised its dividend every year for the past two decades. For its last financial year ended March 2019, Singtel paid a total dividend of 17.5 cents per share and said that barring unforeseen circumstances, it expects to maintain this rate for its current fiscal year (FY2020).....

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/co...s-research

[Ray168]

Will it be a case of déjà vu in the event of a dividend cut, i.e. Starhub's share price sharp correction ?
Shareholders(myself included) may need to monitor the situation closely.

-----------------------------------------------------
Singtel may cut dividend for first time in 20 years, says DBS Research
Updated 1 hour ago

SINGAPORE - DBS Equity Research says Singtel may cut its "unsustainable" dividend rate to 13 to 15 cents per share for its next fiscal year starting April 2020 (FY2021) in order to maintain its credit rating, in a report out on Thursday (Oct 10).

Singtel has either maintained or raised its dividend every year for the past two decades. For its last financial year ended March 2019, Singtel paid a total dividend of 17.5 cents per share and said that barring unforeseen circumstances, it expects to maintain this rate for its current fiscal year (FY2020).....

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/co...s-research

DJ Singtel Unlikely to Cut Dividend in FY 2021: Citi Research -- Market Talk 
11 Oct 2019 13:08

0507 GMT - Singtel isn't likely to backtrack from its commitment to a 17.5 Singapore cent dividend in FY 2021, Citi Research says, maintaining a buy call on the telecom's stock with a S$3.97 price target. The comments come after a research note Thursday said Singtel may be heading toward its first dividend cut in 20 years. But Citi reckons the risk of that is low as Singtel's free cash flows and current dividend commitment give it scope to maintain its dividend in FY 2021. Citi estimates Singtel's cumulative free cash flow will be around S$3.2 billion a year for FY 2021-2023. That compares with a S$2.85 billion annual cash outflow if Singtel were to keep its dividend at 17.5 Singapore cents, Citi says. (justina.lee@wsj.com) 

[¯|_(ツ)_/¯]

25 Apr 2020 Singtel Group seals $4 billion of credit for general corporate purposes and refinancing of existing facilities.
https://links.sgx.com/FileOpen/SGX-SGT%2...eID=608033
(click for details)

Ms Lim Cheng Cheng, Singtel Group Chief Financial Officer, said, 
“The Singtel Group is very pleased with the level of support demonstrated by our bankers in Singapore and Australia. This reflects their confidence in the Singtel Group’s credit quality and business fundamentals.” 
A) Three-year S$2.5 billion committed revolving credit facility with 13 banks, comprising Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, Bank of America, N.A., Singapore Branch, Bank of China Limited, Singapore Branch, Citibank N.A., Singapore Branch, DBS Bank Ltd., The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, Singapore Branch, Mizuho Bank, Ltd., MUFG Bank, Ltd., Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Limited, Societe Generale, Singapore Branch, Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) Limited, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Singapore Branch, and United Overseas Bank Limited. 

B) One-year committed facilities totalling S$950 million with a group of banks.

C) 364-day committed facilities totalling A$800 million with a group of banks. 

Stay home and stay safe, everyone.

[¯|_(ツ)_/¯]

29 Apr 2020 IMDA: Singapore Forges Ahead with Nationwide 5G Rollout
https://www.imda.gov.sg/news-and-events/...5G-Rollout

2 things stand out from the announcement:
1. 5G is not only about faster speed but rather new applications that could change our life.  It's not only about changing mobile experiences but also enable new ways of doing things.  Imagine with high speed simulations and augmented reality, a surveillance team could just wear a Oculus VR headset and watch over Foreign workers quarantine in their dormitories.  These are real life applications that completely remove our current constraints of deploying onsite resources.
2. IMDA initiatives will create high value jobs for Singaporean.  This is a very good way to ensure the training that we provided to Singaporean is put into great use.  I could see the tremendous opportunities that Singapore and Singaporean can contribute to leading the world in 5G deployment.

I would like to highlight some important points:
Two 5G spectrums will be allocated to Singtel and Starhub/M1 consortium to setup two 5G Standalone (SA) networks islandwide.
Additionally, mmWave spectrums will be allocated to M1, Starhub, Singtel, TPG and mobile virtual network operators to setup localise 5G hostspots.
These hotspots enable retail 5G services to end users too.

Timeline:
1. Jan 2021 Roll out
2. End 2022 Covers 50% of Singapore
3. End 2025 Complete 100% of Singapore

Stay home and stay healthy, everyone.