Bharti, Telkomsel star as SingTel Group reports 27.4 pct net profit rise

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2006

SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) has said its year to March net profit rose to a better-than-expected 27.4 percent on strong contributions from overseas operations.

Southeast Asia's biggest telecom firm reported a net profit of 4.16 billion Singapore dollars (2.65 billion US), compared with 3.27 billion dollars the year before.

For the fourth quarter to March, net profit was up 61.3 percent to 1.682 billion dollars.

"Driving the group's growth engine is our regional mobile associates, especially Bharti and Telkomsel," SingTel chief executive Lee Hsien Yang said Thursday, referring to the firm's associates in India and Indonesia respectively.

"They are performing strongly and are driving growth in the overall contribution from...