StarHub rings in a rebound in Q3

SINGAPORE — Call it the Apple effect. Telecommunications company StarHub yesterday posted its first profit increase in five quarters, as the launch of new iPhone models drove demand for handsets, although the firm’s broadband business continued to take a hit from rampant price competition.

For the three months ended September, net profit edged up 2.6 per cent on-year to S$97.7 million, as revenue increased 2.3 per cent to S$592 million.

This is StarHub’s first profit gain since the second quarter of last year, when earnings gained 15.9 per cent.

Revenue from sales of equipment increased 73.5 per cent to S$39.3 million for the quarter, boosted by increased handsets sales as the launch of new iPhone models drove demand.

Although StarHub increased its broadband subscriber base in the quarter, price competition resulted in lower subscription takings from new and recontracted customers, leading to services revenue in this segment plummeting 17.4 per cent to S$49.2 million.

As at end-September, StarHub had 461,000 broadband subscribers, up 4,800 from the previous quarter.

Compared with a year ago, this was higher by 15,500 customers or 3.5 per cent.

The telco’s core mobile business grew 0.9 per cent to S$310.9 million, boosted by higher revenue from the post-paid market.

StarHub’s post-paid business added 102,4000 customers in the quarter from the year-earlier period to increase its subscriber base in this market to 1.25 million.

However, post-paid average revenue per user fell to S$69 from S$70 in the year-ago period.

The company’s pay-TV revenue rose 2 per cent to S$97.4 million because of higher subscription revenue from more subscribers, while its fixed network services revenue increased 2.7 per cent to S$95.2 million.

Looking ahead, StarHub warned that pricing competition in the broadband market would continue to provide a challenge, but was optimistic about its fixed network, mobile services and pay-TV segments.

“Growth in the group’s revenue will continue to be driven mainly by our fixed network and mobile services ... (while) pay-TV is expected to grow moderately through better content offering and packaging,” StarHub said.