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SINGTEL is unfazed about a change in mobile phone practice which will allow customers to keep their old number when they change mobile phone providers.
The new practice, called number portability, is expected to come into effect by June.
Traditionally, incumbent operators such as SingTel stand to lose the most from the introduction of number portability.
This is because they have the largest base of long-established customers who may have been reluctant to switch providers as they did not want a new number.
SingTel though, said its chief executive officer for Singapore Allen Lew, is not worried now that these customers can keep the old number - but change telcos.
This is because it is the only phone company in Singapore to have dealt with number portability.
'We know what number portability is. We know what the incumbent is likely to do and what it needs to do, while StarHub and M1 are facing it for the first time,' he said.
Mr Lew was the executive in charge of SingTel's Australian unit Optus' mobile arm when number portability was introduced there in 2001.
In fact, he is confident number portability would give SingTel an opportunity to 'attack' StarHub and M1's market share - although SingTel will likely have to spend more on retention and acquisition.
M1's chief executive, Mr Neil Montefiore, also highlighted the same point - higher expenses when number portability is launched - at an earlier M1 event last month.
Mr Lew was speaking at a media conference on SingTel's third-quarter results yesterday.
The company reported a 4.2 dip in net profits for its third quarter ended Dec 31 to $952 million, compared to the same period a year earlier.
This, though, was because that earlier period enjoyed exceptional gains - its underlying net profit, at $931 million, was actually up 21.7 per cent from the same period the year before.
Revenues were up 11.4 per cent to $3.8 billion, with underlying earnings per share of 5.86 cents, up from 4.82 cents.
Singapore's largest listed company, said group chief executive Chua Sock Koong, has 'a strong balance sheet with significant flexibility for further investment'.
The current market turmoil has resulted in 'more realistic' valuations, and SingTel is continuing to suss out opportunities to buy stakes in Asian telcos.
The company also gave an update on its expansion plans in Ghana and Vietnam. SingTel has, said Ms Chua, 'decided not to proceed in Ghana' where it had reportedly been keen on a majority stake in Ghana Telecom.
Meanwhile, its proposed purchase of a stake in a Vietnamese mobile firm is being evaluated by the country's government.
SingTel has spent over $18 billion acquiring stakes in regional companies. These stakes have paid off handsomely, and today contribute about three-quarters of SingTel's revenues.
SingTel shares closed four cents up at $3.90.
chuahh@sph.com.sg
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