Singtel

Singapore Telecommunications Limited

File:SingTel.svg
Company type	Public (SGX: T48 , ASX: sgt)
Industry	Telecommunications
Founded	Singapore (1879)
Headquarters	Singapore , Singapore
Key people	Chumpol NaLamlieng, Chairman Chua Sock Koong, Group CEO Francis Heng, Group CFO
Products	mobile services internet fixed network services
Revenue	$13,377 million SGD (Mar 2007)
Operating income	$4.661 million SGD (Mar 2005)
Number of employees	>20,000
Parent	Temasek Holdings Pte Ltd
Website	http://www.singtel.com/

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SGX: T48 , ASX: sgt) (commonly abbreviated as SingTel) and formerly known as Telecom Equipment, is Singapore's largest telecommunications company. With a combined mobile subscriber base of 124 million customers from its own operations and regional associates at the end of March 2007 , SingTel is the largest mobile network operator in the Asia Pacific outside of the People's Republic of China. A former government monopoly privatized in 1992, SingTel divested its postal operation SingPost in 2003 and now concentrates on providing internet service provider(SingNet), mobile phone and fixed line telephony services. SingTel has launched its pay TV service in July 2007, named mio TV.

SingTel has expanded aggressively outside its home market and owns shares in many regional operators, including 100% of Australian telecommunications company Optus, acquired in 2000 from Cable and Wireless and other shareholders of Optus.

SingTel's largest shareholder is Temasek Holdings, which holds 56% of its shares as of 2007. Chua Sock Koong serves as its current CEO, having replaced long-serving CEO Lee Hsien Yang (brother of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong) in April 2007.

SingTel's commitment to customer privacy had come into question as a result of its subsidiary's actions during Odex's actions against file sharing in 2007. [1] It was revealed that SingNet simply consented to the release of customer information without their lawyers contesting in the courts. [2]

History

In 1879, 3 years after Alexander Graham Bell patented his telephone invention, Mr Bennet Pell started a private telephone exchange in Singapore that had 50 lines and made Singapore one of the first cities in the East to have telephone service. SingTel was incorporated in March 1992 and became a public company in October 1993. It was listed on the Singapore Exchange in November 1993 and on the Australian Stock Exchange in September 2001. In May 1993, SingTel set up its first overseas office in New York City. SingTel’s group revenue cross the S$10 billion mark in March 2003 and by 2004, SingTel has become the largest company listed on the Singapore Exchange with a market capitalisation of around S$40 billion (or US$24 billion at the exchange rate in May 2004).

In 2005, SingTel said that it has agreed to increase its stake in India's Bharti Telecom to 32.81% from 26.96% for US$252million (S$417million). SingTel said that with its latest deal, its interest in Bharti Tele-Ventures would rise to 30.84% from 28.16%. Bharti Telecom's main asset is it 45.9% holding in Bharti Tele-Ventures, India's second largest mobile phone operator.

SingTel entered the Bangladesh mobile telecommunication market by purchasing 45% equity of Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited (PBTL) for US$118 million, SingTel also has a call option to increase its equity to 60% for an additional US$65 million. The call can be exercised between April 1 and June 30, 2007. PBTL is the parent company of CityCell, Bangladesh's third largest mobile phone operator.

On July 21 2007, the company launched of the new mio TV service to rival cable TV operator Starhub. The service will be available in high definition. Reception would be via a IPTV.

This year, SingTel is sponsoring the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, the first night city race.

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) and five other international telecommunications carriers namely Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, Google, KDDI Corporation and Pacnet, have signed an agreement to construct a new ultra high-speed submarine cable system linking the United States to Japan. The US$300 million cable system, named Unity, will span 10,000 km across the Pacific Ocean, linking Chikura in Japan directly to Los Angelesin the United States. It is expected to be ready for service in the first quarter of 2010.

On 26 February 2008, SingTel and Al Jazeera Network announced partnership details to broadcast Al Jazeera English on mio TV. As the first English language global news and current affairs channel based in the Middle East, Al Jazeera English will start broadcasting in Singapore exclusively from 1 March 2008 with mio TV on channel 43. The partnership allows mio TV subscribers exclusive access to the channel’s groundbreaking content. Subscribers to mio TV can also choose to watch the channel streamed ‘live’ on their 3G mobile phones in April 2008.

Subsidiaries

The Singtel group of companies includes various subsidiaries, associated companies, as well as shareholdings in overseas entities. Its mainstay is in the mobile phone industry where it has a total subscription base of 176.03 million as at February 2008, and a total of 63.1893 million proportionate subscribers (subscribers calculated as a proportion of shareholding):

Mobile company	Country	Shareholding	Subscribers	Proportionate subscribers	Market share in domestic market
Advanced Info Service	Thailand	21.4%	24 million	5.136 million	52%
Bharti Group	India	30.6%	60 million	18.36 million	29%
Globe Telecom	Philippines	44.6%	20.3 million	9.0538 million	37%
Optus	Australia	100.0%	7 million	7 million	32.5%
Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited	Bangladesh	45.0%	1.3 million	0.585 million	4.7%
SingTel Mobile	Singapore	100.0%	2.33 million	2.33 million	38.7%
Telkomsel	Indonesia	35.0%	47.89 million	16.7615 million	55%
Warid Telecom	Pakistan	30.0%	13.21 million	3.963 million	?%
Total			176.03 million	63.1893 million

Other members of the Singtel group includes the two wholly owned subsidiaries of SingNet, a wholly owned internet service provider, and NCS, an information technology and communications engineering services provider. Associated companies include the Singapore Post, which was formerly a subsidiary until its separate listing on the Singapore Exchange in May 2003 and the New Century Infocomm of Taiwan which Singtel has a 24.5% stake. Singtel also owns 20.33% stake in Hong Kong's APT Satellite.

SingTel satellite stations

• Bukit Timah Satellite Earth Station
• Seletar Teleport

Gallery

• 
  SingTel satellite dishes, along Bukit Timah Expressway.
• 
  SingTel's Comcentre Building at Exeter Road, near the Orchard Road shopping belt.
• 
  SingTel's Ayer Rajah Telecommunications Complex, along Dover Road.

External links

• SingTel Official Website

Subsidiaries

• SingNet
• NCS Pte. Ltd.