Here's depressing takeaways from Singtel's conference call

CIMB advises investors to shift to StarHub.

SingTel’s conference call after its 2QFY13 results yielded no major surprises, said CIMB.

The main takeaways according to CIMB include the following:

1) SingTel noted a strong take-up for its tiered data plans but did not reveal any numbers;

2) Optus is seeing competition easing and scope for better yields;

3) SingTel expects strong demand from the government sector and cloud computing in the IT and Engineering space;and

4) SingTel chose not to disclose the amount budgeted for new investments as this is a strategically sensitive number.

SingTel continued to gain market share in mobile and fixed broadband in Singapore.

Here's what OCBC thinks:

We think SingTel is in a transition stage as it attempts to build up new growth drivers and acquire customers with the view of monetising them in future. We are concerned that further acquisitions and start-up losses may dampen its profitability in the short-term, while the returns from these investments are by no means certain.

While Optus is seeing signs of stabilisation in the competitive environment, we stay cautious on the industry as we expect VHA to return
to the market. This will undoubtedly be accompanied by marketing efforts to improve brand perception and to grow its subscriber base again.

What You Should Do
Switch to StarHub which offers the prospect of higher dividends whereas we think SingTel's earnings will be depressed by start-up losses of its new acquisitions, content costs and competition.

In addition, Bharti faces regulatory uncertainties and higher competition.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia