SingTel reports nearly 78 million mobile subscribers in Asia

SINGAPORE, -- Singapore Telecommunications ( SingTel) said Tuesday that its mobile subscriber base in Asia grew by 26 percent last year to reach 77.79 million as of the end of 2005.

"This is the largest mobile customer base in Asia outside of China," said a statement released Tuesday by the company, which is one of the leading telecom services providers in the city state and Asia.

SingTel's five regional mobile associates in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand reported a total of 69.87 million subscribers by the end of last year, posting an increase of 29.8 percent over the previous year.

Its Australian subsidiary Optus expanded the user base to 6.3 million as of the end of 2005, up 1.6 percent from a year ago, the statement said, adding that it "was achieved despite intense competition in the Australian mobile market."
At home, the number of SingTel's mobile customers rose by 5.2 percent from 2004 to reach 1.62 million at the end of last year, which included some 55,000 users of the third generation (3G) mobile services.


Source:
Xinhua
February 07, 2006