Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) on Thursday said it will make an investment $2.11 billion or S$3 billion in Australia and Singapore in fiscal 2016.
The Singapore-based telecom network operator will be investing S$1.9 billion for Australia and S$1.1 billion for Singapore in FY 2016 towards capital expenditure (Capex).
This reflects Singtel’s multi-year investments in a new data centre in Singapore, continued strategic investments in mobile network, particularly in Australia, and expected increased spend in customer care and management systems.
Meanwhile, cash capital expenditure fell 19 percent to S$473 million in the second quarter ended September 30, 2015. The expenditure comprised S$162 million for Singapore and S$311 million (A$308 million) for Australia.
Singtel, which is an investor in India’s Bharti Airtel, made an investment of S$63 million for fixed and data infrastructure, S$41 million for information systems and S$40 million for mobile networks in Singapore.
Its investment in Australia was A$177 million in mobile networks and A$131 million in other core infrastructure.
“Mobile data growth continues to be a key focus. Investments in 3G and 4G network infrastructure and spectrum, alongside increasing smartphone penetration, are delivering improved experiences for customers,” said Chua Sock Koong, group CEO of Singtel.
SingTel added 77,000 4G subscribers to reach 2.08 million. SingTel’s 4G subscriber reached 4.13 million in Australia by adding 314,000 in Q2.
In Singapore, SingTel further deployed LTE service on the 900MHz spectrum to improve in-building coverage in residential areas and underground MRT tunnels.
In Australia, Optus invested in 700MHz spectrum with 4G coverage reaching over 90 percent of the population.
Operating revenue of SingTel fell 2.9 percent to S$4,184 million in Q2, while net profit dipped 0.8 percent to S$1,030 million.