More headwinds on the horizon for StarHub in FY16: report

Its subscriber base is steadily shrinking.

StarHub is going to have its hands full in FY16, as a waning subscriber base and shrinking adoption grant continue to pose a threat on the company’s profits.

According to a report by DBS, StarHub’s Pay TV business lost 8,000 subscribers to reach 528,000 as StarHub stopped its TV Lite promotions, leading to a slight dip in Pay TV revenue. In addition, Netflix entered the market early this year, so it could also be attributed to Netflix’s entry.

Meanwhile, the company’s broadband business lost 3,000 subscribers to reach 473,000 although revenue inched up slightly on back of increased ARPU from increased take-up of fibre broadband plans.

These drops in subscribers could spell disaster for StarHub, as they undermine the company’s hubbing strategy. To this end, DBS expects StarHub tp up the ante by being more aggressive in trying to retain or grow its subscriber base.

DBS also reports that the adoption grant may slip in the coming quarters. Q1 enjoyed $12.6m in “other income,” most of which came from adoption grant for fibre broadband take-up.

Management anticipates the adoption grant to fall in end-FY16, while DBS estimates that “other income” could tumble to $26m in end-FY16, from $46.5m in FY15. As such, subsequent quarters would likely see smaller adoption grants going forward.

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