Enterprise fixed business is the only hope for StarHub

It grew a steady 3.9% to $400m in 2016.

It seems like StarHub is losing all its charms with a disappointing 4Q16 results, as profits crashed 33.2% to $54m.

According to OCBC Investment Research, StarHub's mobile segment was impacted primarily by lower usage revenue from voice services, IDD and roaming services, on the back of increasing options of OTT services for users.

"Despite increase across both post-paid and pre-paid subscriber base, revenue fell as postpaid and pre-paid ARPU fell 0.6% and 9.5% YoY, respectively. Going forward, with TPG set to compete aggressively on pricing in the market,we see further scope for ARPU to fall, along with declining subscriber base as Starhub loses market share over time," the brokerage firm explained.

Its pay TV and broadband segments also posted disappointing results, with only the enterprise fixed segment showing signs of hope for the group, managing to grow at a steady 3.9% to $400m in the past year.

"Management has also highlighted that one of their key focus is to look at how to accelerate the growth of its enterprise fixed business. That said, we do not expect the growth in this segment over the near to medium term to be able to offset the decline in revenue from its mobile and Pay TV segment," OCBC noted.

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