SINGAPORE-Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., which has embarked on a regional expansion of its mobile subsidiary, said it increased its wireless subscribers by 64 percent in 2002 compared with the year before.
SingTel said its aggregate mobile subscriber base in the Asia-Pacific region exceeded 32 million as of end-December 2002 compared with 19.6 million a year earlier. The Singapore-based company holds stakes in mobile operators in Singapore, Australia, Thailand, India, the Philippines and Indonesia.
India saw the fastest growth, with Bharti Mobile ending the year with 2.77 million mobile subscribers, a 150-percent year-on-year growth. AIS, SingTel’s Thai operator, had 10.7 million subscribers at the end of December, for an annual growth rate of 105 percent.
SingTel Mobile in Singapore ended the year with 1.56 million subscribers, Optus in Australia had 4.54 million customers, Indonesia’s Telkomsel chalked up 6.01 million customers, and Globe Telecom in the Philippines counted 6.57 million users at then end of 2002.
