Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Southeast Asia’s largest phone company, reported third-quarter profit rose 24 percent on demand for mobile services in Australia and at home.

Net income rose to S$990.7 million ($696 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, from S$798.9 million a year earlier, the Singapore-based company said today in a statement. SingTel was projected to post profit of S$948 million, according to the median of three analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Consumer demand for new products such as Apple Inc. iPhones and SingTel’s pay-television services are driving Singapore sales, helping to limit the impact of weakening growth for voice and data sales. The company also had a rebound in earnings from its Indonesian operations.

“The Singapore domestic business has strong momentum and should continue to take market share from the smaller players,” Daniel Baker, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities Co. in Hong Kong, wrote in a Feb. 3 report.

Sales for the quarter rose 20 percent to S$4.45 billion, bringing the nine-month total to S$12.4 billion.

SingTel added 1.7 percent to close at S$2.95 yesterday in Singapore trading. The stock has lost 5.1 percent this year after a 22 percent gain in 2009.

Singapore Market

EBITDA from Singapore rose 3.4 percent to S$580 million and sales gained 1.5 percent.

SingTel maintained its market share at 46.2 percent compared to three months earlier, the carrier said.

The phone operator is adding ESPN programs and Barclays Premier League soccer games to mio TV, its Internet-based pay television service, as part of an expansion in multimedia.

“The Singapore and Australia businesses stood out for their exceptional performance in mobile under highly competitive market conditions,” Chief Executive Officer Chua Sock Koong said in the statement.

Subscriber numbers at mio TV rose 29,000 for a total of 155,000, the company said.

EBITDA at its wholly-owned Australian unit, Sydney-based SingTel Optus Pty., rose 3.6 percent to A$529 million ($456 million).

SingTel may consider selling a 25 percent stake in Optus to raise as much as A$4 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 13, citing unidentified people.

Such a move may trigger a writedown of as much as S$6 billion, according to Mirae’s Baker.

SingTel has 285 million mobile customers through its wholly owned units, as well as stakes in operators in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Bharti Contribution

Pretax earnings from the company’s regional associates rose 21 percent to S$560 million on rebounding sales at its Indonesian business

SingTel’s share of earnings from PT Telekomunikasi Selular, Indonesia’s largest mobile-phone operator, gained 53 percent to S$238 million.

Earnings from Bharti Airtel Ltd., in which SingTel holds almost a one-third stake, rose 4.6 percent to S$235 million. India’s biggest wireless phone company increased its mobile- subscriber base by 39 percent to 118.9 million compared to a year earlier, SingTel said today.

The earnings contribution from Advanced Info Service Pcl, Thailand’s biggest mobile-phone company, dropped 12.2 percent to S$52 million.

Globe Telecom Inc., its Philippine unit, posted a 5.7 percent decline in profit to S$54 million, SingTel said.

Source:Bloomberg