Singapore Telecommunications announced its regional mobile phone customer base grew 33% to more than 262 million in the year to end June 2009. SingTel said it signed up an extra 64 million new users during the period, with strong growth from regional associates pushing up the numbers.

On a quarterly basis, the firm’s overall mobile phone user base grew 5.1 percent, or 13 million, from 249.39 million at the end March, it said.

India showed the biggest jump as mobile associate Bharti Telecom signed up 33 million new subscribers from a year ago, SingTel said.

SingTel, which has a 30.44 percent stake in Bharti Telecom, said the Indian operator’s mobile base exceeded 102 million users at the end of June.

Indonesia’s Telkomsel grew its mobile base 45 percent or 23.6 million to 76 million, while Globe Telecom of the Philippines has 25 million users, up 10 percent.

SingTel owns 35 percent and 47.34 percent of Telkomsel and Globe Telecom, respectively.

Thailand’s Advanced Info Service saw its mobile user base expand by 1.9 million or 7.5 percent to 27.9 million at the end of June, said SingTel, which holds a 21.35 percent stake in the Thai operator.

Warid Telecom of Pakistan grew its mobile base by an annual 2.4 million or 15 percent to 17.9 million, while Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Limited’s (PBTL) subscriber base increased to 1.96 million from 1.70 million last year.

SingTel owns 30 percent of Warid Telecom and 45 percent of PBTL.

In Australia, SingTel’s wholly owned unit Optus expanded its mobile user base by an annual 11 percent to more than eight million and in Singapore, the company grew 8.6 percent to 2.99 million.

Source – AsiaOne