Singapore’s M1 has reported a 4.5% growth in 2011 profit to S$164.1 million ($127.4 million), largely as a result of an increase in smartphone using customers.
The operator announced an 8.8% increase in operating revenue to S$1.06 billion, attributing the result to higher handset sales and service revenue from segments including data services.
Non-voice revenue accounted for 35.6% of M1’s total service revenue over the year, 3.7 percentage points higher than the segment’s contribution in 2010. A key driver of this growth was smartphone adoption – the segment now accounts for 67% of M1’s total postpaid customer base of 969,000.
Postpaid users accounted for 48% of M1’s total mobile customer base, which grew by 104,000 users in 2011 to edge past 2 million customers by the end of the year. Postpaid monthly churn declined to 1.3% for the year, from 1.4% in 2010, while postpaid ARPU dipped slightly to S$63.80. The company also had 44,000 fixed-line customers as of end-2011, including 22,000 fiber subscribers. While the operator has been lagging behind its rivals by fiber adoption, it expects uptake to increase this year as Singapore’s NG-NBN reaches nationwide coverage. CEO Karen Kooi predicted that “based on the current economic… we are likely to maintain stable performance for the year 2012.”