The transaction will occur on local bourses on Friday

 

[SINGAPORE] A Singapore Telecommunications unit offered to sell shares in Indian mobile carrier Bharti Airtel in a deal that may fetch US$1.2 billion, terms of the offering show.

 

The unit, Pastel, offered to sell 51 million shares, or a stake of 0.8 per cent in Bharti, at a floor price of 2,030 rupees (S$29.88) each, according to terms of the deal seen by Bloomberg. The price represents a 3.1 per cent discount to the stock&rsquo s closing price in Mumbai on Thursday (Nov 6).

 

The transaction will occur on local bourses on Friday (Nov 7), with the settlement expected on Nov 10, and there&rsquo s a lockup of 60 days, according to the terms. JPMorgan Chase is the sole broker. 

 

Shares of Bharti Airtel have rallied more than 30 per cent this year, making the firm third-biggest member of benchmark Nifty 50 Index by market value.

The telco and KKR & Co are in the late stages of discussions to buy more than 80% of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres for over S$5 billion

[SINGAPORE] Shares of Singtel rose S$0.23 or 5.4 per cent on Thursday (Nov 6) to close at an all-time high of S$4.50.  

 

The counter&rsquo s climb came amid heavy trading by the end of the trading day, more than 50.3 million shares had changed hands.

 

Singtel&rsquo s rise comes on the back of news that the telco and KKR & Co are in advanced talks to buy more than 80 per cent of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres &ndash which would give them full ownership &ndash for over US$3.9 billion.

 

KKR currently owns about 14 per cent of the firm Singtel owns more than 4 per cent. 

 

The rest of the company is held by ST Telemedia, which is wholly owned by Singapore investment company Temasek.

 

If successful, the deal would rank among Asia&rsquo s biggest data-centre transactions, with the boom in artificial intelligence (AI) creating soaring demand for digital infrastructure.

 

Separately, a Singtel unit has offered to sell shares in Indian mobile carrier Bharti Airtel in a deal that may fetch 103.5 billion rupees (S$1.52 billion), according to a Bloomberg report, citing terms of the offering.

 

Singtel&rsquo s Thursday closing price surpasses its previous high of S$4.41 recorded in mid-September. That peak was supported by the news of Singtel&rsquo s data-centre arm, Nxera, developing a new generation of more sustainable, AI-ready data centres to support the advancement of the technology in Singapore and the region. 

 

The Australia&rsquo s second-largest phone company has been warned it likely faces major financial penalties for the blunder

 

[SYDNEY] Optus chief executive officer Stephen Rue said that he has no plans to step down following September&rsquo s fatal emergency call outage as his leadership and the phone company came under fire in Australia&rsquo s parliament.

 

&ldquo I firmly believe that another change of leader at this time is not what Optus needs or what our customers need,&rdquo Rue said in his opening statement to a Senate inquiry into the network failure in Canberra on Monday (Nov 3). &ldquo The disruption and uncertainty could actually set back the transformation underway and create further risks.&rdquo

 

Optus, which is owned by Singapore Telecommunications, has been in turmoil since the botched network upgrade prevented customers from calling emergency services and led to multiple deaths. Optus is Australia&rsquo s second-largest phone company and has been warned it likely faces major financial penalties for the blunder. 

 

The telco&rsquo s reputation is in tatters because the network failure occurred less than two years after a similar incident impacted millions of Optus customers, including some emergency callers. Then CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin resigned just a week after appearing at a similar parliamentary inquiry, where she was repeatedly asked whether she was considering her position.

 

Rue was then hired specifically to turn around Optus following the 2023 outage.

 

Under intense questioning by senators, Rue also defended his decision to inform Singapore Telecommunications about the September outage before the Australian government. BLOOMBERG

Will Optus overcome the recent spate of crises?

 

TO SAY that Singtel-owned Australian telco Optus is having a hard time would be an understatement. It has been one thing after another for Australia&rsquo s second-largest telco these past few years. 

 

In 2022, hackers stole more than two million Optus customers&rsquo personal identification data from the company&rsquo s computers. They swept up information such as e-mail addresses and phone numbers and, crucially, birth dates, which serve as a key identifier for many Australian government services.

 

Optus again hit a rough patch in 2023, when about 10 million customers as well as about 400,000 businesses and several government, health and transport systems were left without service for about 13 hours. Business subscribers were unable to process card payments &ndash the local equivalent of Nets &ndash for the duration of the breakdown.

 

Then on Sep 24, 2025, the Australian Federal Court issued the enforcement order for a penalty of A$100 million (S$85.2 million) and other undertakings that Optus had agreed with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission as settlement for doing business in a way that the judge, Patrick O&rsquo Sullivan, described as &ldquo appalling&rdquo . 

 

The judge went on to note that &ldquo inappropriate sales practices&rdquo occurred between August 2019 and July 2023 that had resulted in &ldquo unconscionable conduct&rdquo , including inappropriate debt-collection practices, misleading or deceptive conduct, and systemic failure to explain the terms and conditions of contracts. Some were sold mobile plans even though they lived in areas where the Optus network was not available.

 

And this case was just coming to a conclusion when the company suffered a major outage on Sep 18, 2025. This time, at least three people died after the network failure prevented customers from calling emergency services. Professor Allan Fels, a former competition commission chairman and an influential voice in corporate matters, called for a review of Optus&rsquo licence. South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas, from one of the affected states, castigated the telco for &ldquo incompetence&rdquo .

 

Just as this outage was being hotly debated, came the revelation that Optus did not pay any corporate tax despite earning A$8.2 billion in income in 2023 to 2024. It was also revealed that 2024 was the fourth successive year that Optus had declared more than A$8 billion in income but not paid company tax.

 

This is not to say that there was anything underhand about the company dealing with its tax obligations. In fact, despite its headline-grabbing income figure, the company has been making a loss. Optus was also not being singled out for public shaming. Rather, the tax report was a measure introduced more than a decade ago to enhance corporate tax transparency. Other big firms were also named as having paid no company tax. Optus&rsquo explanation that it was in a &ldquo negative tax position due to its infrastructure investments and operating expenses&rdquo was duly noted.

 

But the tax report coming out at a time when customers were still fuming over Optus&rsquo recent outage triggered furious public debate. For instance, it was argued that if a company could not make a profit despite netting more than A$8 billion in income, it should consider shutting down the business. Others demanded that Canberra reform the company tax system to capture profit-shifting and related-party financial deals.

 

The Australian communications regulator will conduct a thorough investigation into the outage in the coming months. So it is good that Singtel&rsquo s group chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon stands ready to &ldquo find the root causes and rectify the issues&rdquo .

This is despite the near-term outlook and share price of its subsidiary Optus being clouded by recurring outages

 

[SINGAPORE] Analysts on Tuesday (Sep 30) maintained their &ldquo buy&rdquo call on Singtel despite the telco&rsquo s recent share price retreat, sparked by consecutive outages suffered by its Australia subsidiary Optus.

 

RHB assigned Singtel a target price of S$4.90, 18.9 per cent above its latest closing price of S$4.12 on Monday, when the stock ended 3.3 per cent lower amid heavy sell-offs. Maybank slashed its target price from S$4.75 to S$4.62, still above Singtel&rsquo s latest closing price. 

 

This comes as Optus, the second-largest telco in Australia, suffered an outage on Sep 28 that affected 4,500 customers, following a similar incident on Sep 18 that led to three deaths, and a government probe into the botched network upgrade that caused it. 

 

RHB said that the recent retreat of Singtel shares signals a &ldquo good opportunity&rdquo for accumulation. 

 

&ldquo While a series of recurring network incidents at Optus should weigh on near-term stock sentiment, the sell-down represents a good buying opportunity,&rdquo said the research house, noting that Singtel&rsquo s market capitalisation has fallen by around 7 per cent since the Sep 18 outage. 

 

Maybank analyst Hussaini Saifee remarked that even though Optus&rsquo recent snags may pose &ldquo heightened near-term financial risks&rdquo , the impact on Singtel shares would likely be contained. 

 

He pointed to Singtel&rsquo s diversification, with Optus accounting for 3 to 5 per cent of the group&rsquo s earnings and 15 per cent of its sum-of-the-parts valuation, based on Maybank&rsquo s estimates. &ldquo Additionally, (Singtel&rsquo s) ongoing S$2 billion share buyback programme supports valuation stability. These factors collectively suggest a low likelihood of a significant share price decline.&rdquo  

 

Longer-term outlook intact, fundamentals unchanged

While Optus&rsquo recurring network snags should weigh on near-term stock sentiment, RHB analysts remained positive about the telco&rsquo s prospects over the long haul. 

 

&ldquo Singtel&rsquo s longer-term underlying thesis of return on invested capital improvement, capital management upsides, and earnings before interest and taxes growth (are) still intact,&rdquo RHB said. 

 

It noted that, following a November 2023 network outage, the stock recovered by around 8 per cent within a week. 

 

Maybank&rsquo s Hussaini highlighted that Singtel&rsquo s growth fundamentals are unchanged and remain robust, supported by strong associate contributions, ongoing consolidation of Singapore telco sector and opportunities in data centres and artificial intelligence. 

 

Given this, he predicts that Singtel&rsquo s earnings for FY2025 to FY2027 will go up at a 17 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), primarily driven by associates. 

 

Moreover, its consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation is set to grow at an estimated 4 per cent CAGR between FY2024 and FY2027 on the back of moderate top-line growth and cost cuts, he added. 

The company pledges to cooperate fully and transparently with the Australian media authority&rsquo s probe into the issue

 

[SINGAPORE] Optus reaffirms its commitment to restoring public confidence and acknowledges its responsibility within the national emergency call system, its chairman John Arthur said in a statement on Tuesday (Sep 30).

 

In a direct bid to repair its reputation and regain the trust of Australians, the telco has appointed global consulting firm Kearney to provide independent oversight of its mobile network following the nationwide outage on Sep 18 that critically affected Triple Zero emergency services. 

 

&ldquo They will begin immediate oversight, quality assurance and verification as Optus uplifts its mobile network management, processes and services consistent with required standards,&rdquo Arthur said in a statement filed with the Singapore Exchange. 

 

Kearney will report regularly to the Optus chief executive officer and board, he added.

 

The announcement came after a meeting among Communications Minister Anika Wells, Singtel Group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon, Optus CEO Stephen Rue, and Arthur. 

 

The statement referred to Kearney as the &ldquo best external expertise&rdquo , and said that the board, which includes Yuen, expressed confidence that Rue and the management team would &ldquo undertake the critical reforms to continue to transform the business, and strengthen the Optus mobile network, restoring the confidence and trust of the Australian public&rdquo .

 

The company pledged to cooperate fully and transparently with the Australian Communications and Media Authority&rsquo s investigation into the outage issue.

 

Arthur said: &ldquo The board&rsquo s highest priority is ensuring that Australians can rely on Triple Zero when it matters most, and we would once again like to apologise to all those impacted by the Sep 18 outage.&rdquo  

 

That incident was the result of a botched firewall upgrade, triggering an outage lasting 13 hours, during which emergency calls in two states and the Northern Territory were disrupted. Four deaths were linked to it.

 

Just 10 days later, on Sep 28, Optus was hit by another outage that affected some 4,500 customers and disrupted calls made between 3 am and 12.20 pm &ndash including emergency calls. 

 

That second outage was &ldquo totally unrelated to (the previous) Triple Zero incident&rdquo and was a &ldquo different type of outage, which was limited to one cell site out of 3,140 in New South Wales&rdquo , said Singtel in a statement on Sep 29. 

 

In a separate statement on Tuesday, Optus said that it was working with its technical partner Ericsson, a provider of radio technology supporting Optus&rsquo mobile towers, to understand the root cause of the issue on the single mobile tower. 

 

Ericsson&rsquo s equipment &ldquo did not appear to operate as it should&rdquo , the statement said.

 

It added that although the tower appeared active on the network, calls attaching to it were affected and did not transfer to other networks.

 

Initial assessments by Optus and Ericsson indicated that their 5G services were operational, but their 4G services, which carry their voice services in Australia, were not. 

 

&ldquo Optus&rsquo ability to detect the outage was impacted as the Ericsson equipment in the cell tower did not (trigger the) alarm that 4G services were not operational,&rdquo the statement said.

 

Optus has requested that Ericsson undertake a full health review of its elements in the Optus network.

 

The second outage in September only deepened the reputational crisis for Optus, which accounts for half of parent Singtel&rsquo s revenue. That disruption to services was the latest in a series of significant setbacks, including a 2022 cyberattack that compromised data on millions of customers, a similar outage in 2023 that hit millions of customers and led to an A$12 million (S$10.2 million) fine, and a A$100 million penalty this year for sales misconduct.

Maybank Securities expects Singapore telco&rsquo s stock to remain range-bound, despite potential setbacks

 

[SINGAPORE] A string of crises encountered by Singtel&rsquo s Australian unit Optus could derail planned price hikes and increase operational costs, warned analysts.

 

The cautionary note follows a challenging week for Optus, after an emergency call outage on Sep 18 led to three deaths in Australia.

 

Adding to its woes was the A$100 million (S$84.6 million) fine it was served by the country&rsquo s federal court on Wednesday (Sep 24) for selling phones and contracts to disadvantaged consumers. 

 

This follows a string of reputational setbacks to the second-largest telco in Australia, including a similar 2023 outage &ndash for which it was fined A$12 million &ndash and a data breach in 2022, noted Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Chris Muckensturm.

 

Maybank Securities analyst Hussaini Saifee told The Business Times that Optus may encounter some near-term risks, including the inability to raise prices. He added that Australia has been seeing inflation-linked upward price adjustments every year.

 

Hussaini said that another risk Optus might face is rising capital and operating expenditure, since it has to invest more in network resiliency and redundancy as well as security.

 

Muckensturm noted that the probe of Optus&rsquo network outage might weaken turnaround efforts and keep Singtel from reaching its &ldquo high-single-digit&rdquo earnings before interest and tax growth target this year.

 

She added that Optus will now face the risk of losing subscribers. 

 

Hussaini also noted that Optus&rsquo brand reputation will take a hit, since the company has had more frequent outage issues. The Sep 18 disruption might create bigger concerns, since it involved multiple fatalities.

 

Muckensturm said the outage might offset average revenue per user gains from rational pricing, and could raise compliance costs as Singtel leans on Optus to achieve its ST28 plan.

 

Launched in 2024, the ST28 plan refers to Singtel&rsquo s new initiative which emphasises active capital management with the aim of delivering continued growth and even higher dividends.

 

Despite these potential setbacks, Hussaini expects Singtel&rsquo s stock to remain &ldquo range-bound&rdquo .

 

&ldquo Australia only accounts for approximately 17 per cent of Singtel&rsquo s sum-of-the-parts, while other businesses and associates are unaffected,&rdquo he said.

 

He added that the ongoing S$2 billion buyback programme also provides downside protection.

 

In a Maybank Securities report on Wednesday, Hussaini said: &ldquo (Singtel) should also benefit from domestic consolidation while leveraging multiple structural tailwinds across its data centre and artificial intelligence-as-a-service units.&rdquo

 

He maintained a &ldquo buy&rdquo call on Singtel with a target price of S$4.75.

 

All eyes on Australia

Hussaini said that investors should be watching out for the regulatory outcomes in Australia. Singtel group chief executive officer Yuen Kuan Moon will be arriving in Australia on Sep 29 for an Optus board meeting, noted the Australian Financial Review.

 

The Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells also summoned Singtel to a meeting following the fatal outage.

 

Hussaini added that Optus will be seeking to recover its reputation, although it will be difficult to quantify the extent of the damage incurred to its name.

 

He pointed out that investors should also take note of the execution on Optus&rsquo network investments.

The telco sold phones and contracts to over 400 such consumers, including those with mental disabilities and learning difficulties, or who were in financial hardship

 

[SINGAPORE] Australian telecommunications company Optus Mobile was served a A$100 million (S$85.1 million) fine by the country&rsquo s federal court on Wednesday (Sep 24) for selling phones and contracts to disadvantaged consumers. 

 

Justice Patrick O&rsquo Sullivan said in his ruling that the company&rsquo s conduct was &ldquo clearly unconscionable and can only be described as appalling. It is, by any measure, extremely serious&rdquo .

 

Catriona Lowe, deputy chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), said: &ldquo Optus&rsquo conduct in this case was truly appalling, and we welcome the substantial penalty imposed by the court and the deterrence message that it will send.&rdquo  

 

Optus admitted in June to unconscionable conduct after court action brought against it by ACCC, and agreed to the fine quantum for having broken Australia&rsquo s consumer laws. 

 

The company admitted to selling phones and contracts to more than 400 disadvantaged consumers in 16 of its stores between August 2019 and July 2023.

 

ACCC said in a statement: &ldquo In many instances, the consumers did not want or need, could not use or could not afford what they were sold, and in some cases, consumers were pursued for debts resulting from these sales.&rdquo

 

Optus is a wholly-owned subsidiary of   Singtel   : Z74 -0.23% and Australia&rsquo s second-largest telco after Telstra. It is now under intense pressure after the Sep18 outages of its emergency hotline services led to at least three deaths. 

 

&lsquo Significant emotional distress and fear&rsquo  

ACCC said that many of the affected individuals were particularly vulnerable or disadvantaged in that they had mental disabilities, diminished cognitive capacity, learning difficulties, limited financial literacy, or were unemployed, or did not use English as a first language.    

 

Some of those affected were also First Nations Australians residing in remote areas of the country. 

 

Optus staff are said to have, for example, put pressure on those affected to buy large numbers of products, failed to explain relevant terms and conditions, disregarded actual Optus coverage in the areas where the buyers lived, and misled consumers on the free items included. 

 

ACCC&rsquo s Lowe said: &ldquo Many of these consumers who were vulnerable or experiencing disadvantage also experienced significant financial harm. They accrued thousands of dollars of unexpected debt, and some were pursued by debt collectors, in some instances, for years.&rdquo  

 

The company also engaged debt collectors to pursue the affected consumers, even after internal investigations had been launched into the unethical sales conduct, noted Lowe. 

 

&ldquo It is not surprising, and indeed could and should have been anticipated, that this conduct caused many of these people significant emotional distress and fear,&rdquo she said. 

 

Justice O&rsquo Sullivan added that the senior Optus management &ldquo knew or ought to have known of system failures&rdquo within the company &ndash including its chief executive officer. 

 

The current chief executive officer, Stephen Rue, was appointed in May 2024, succeeding Kelly Bayer Rosmarin, who was appointed in 2020 and stepped down in 2024 following a nation-wide service outage. 

 

In a statement, Optus said that it has &ldquo fully remediated&rdquo most of the customers identified, and that it was working with financial-counsellor services to identify and support affected customers. 

 

The company has also entered into an enforceable undertaking to &ldquo improve (its) sales practices and better support customers, particularly those who are vulnerable&rdquo .

 

In addition, it has also set up a programme to address its commitments, including making coverage and credit checks, enhancing code-of-conduct training, and changing its sales-incentive programmes.  

 

In May 2021, Telstra was fined A$50 million for engaging in similar sale tactics against more than 100 consumers. 

 

[SYDNEY] Singtel faces a fresh crisis at its Australian division Optus after the government started an investigation into an emergency call outage that resulted in multiple deaths.

 

Last week&rsquo s network failure follows an Australia-wide outage at Optus in November 2023 that affected millions of customers &ndash including some who were unable to make emergency calls. That blunder cost the job of Optus&rsquo then-boss, Kelly Bayer Rosmarin.

 

The latest incident at Australia&rsquo s second-biggest phone company, so soon after the last, now threatens the position of Rosmarin&rsquo s successor as chief executive officer, Stephen Rue. 

 

And there is potentially worse fallout to come. At a press conference on Monday (Sep 22), Australian Communications Minister Anika Wells said she will consider any required regulatory or legislative changes once the probe into Optus&rsquo botched network upgrade is complete.

 

Wells said she had spoken to Rue to express her &ldquo unbelievable disappointment that we should be here again so soon.&rdquo

 

Optus accounts for about half of Singtel&rsquo s annual revenue. 

 

Singtel shares were down 1.1 per cent in early trading at Monday&rsquo s open in Singapore, trimming the company&rsquo s market value to S$72 billion.

 

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would be surprised if Rue is not considering stepping down.

 

&ldquo Optus&rsquo behaviour is completely unacceptable,&rdquo Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Monday. &ldquo Optus has obligations, as do other communications companies, and quite clearly they haven&rsquo t fulfilled the obligations that they have.&rdquo

 

A spokesperson for Optus declined to comment.

 

According to Optus, a standard network upgrade on Sep 18 led to a technical failure that impacted emergency calls in South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Optus said it did not receive any alarms that some emergency calls were not making it through, and that three people died. 

 

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) said on Monday that it had started an investigation into Optus&rsquo compliance with emergency call regulations.

 

&lsquo Fundamental responsibility&rsquo

&ldquo Australians must be able to contact emergency services whenever they need help,&rdquo ACMA said in a statement. &ldquo This is the most fundamental responsibility every telco provider has to the public.&rdquo

 

Phone companies must also check up on callers who made unsuccessful emergency calls during a network outage, the same rule Optus broke in 2023. Optus was fined A$12 million (S$10.2 million) for those breaches.    

 

CEO Rue said on Sunday that Optus would appoint an outside expert to lead an independent review into last week&rsquo s failure, and that the facts will be made public.

 

&ldquo We will get recommendations of what to do and I&rsquo m determined that we will implement those,&rdquo he said in a televised news conference. 

 

One of the tasks of the internal review will be to look at the effectiveness of the changes Optus put in place after the 2023 outage, he added. 

 

Optus has begun monitoring so-called triple zero call volumes and failure rates state-by-state, 24 hours a day, Rue said. It has also halted any network system changes. The company continues to investigate why it took 13 hours before it became aware of the failure, he said.

 

Rue also disclosed that as many as five calls were made to the Optus contact centre raising concerns about the triple zero service early on Sep 18, but that they hadn&rsquo t been passed on internally.

 

&ldquo This is clearly not good enough and we are implementing a compulsory escalation process following any customer reports of triple zero outages,&rdquo he said. 

On Aug 14, Singtel independent non-executive director Yong Ying-I acquired 100,000 shares at an average price of S$4.05 a share. This raised her direct interest to 310,000 shares. 

 

Her preceding acquisition was on Jun 5, with 150,000 shares bought at S$3.87 apiece. 

 

On Aug 13, Singtel posted a 14 per cent year-on-year rise in its Q1 FY2026 underlying net profit to S$686 million. The S$2.88 billion net profit for the period was boosted by exceptional gains, as well as resilient operating metrics despite currency headwinds, driven by strong contributions from subsidiaries Optus, NCS, Airtel and AIS.

 

Credit Bureau Asia

Between Aug 8 and 12, Credit Bureau Asia executive chairman and CEO Kevin Koo acquired 172,100 shares at an average price of S$1.33 apiece. This raised his total interest to 64.12 per cent from 63.97 per cent. 

 

Koo, who founded the credit information business in 1993, has been pivotal to its success and expansion. With more than 30 years of industry experience, he played a key role in shaping its growth.

 

On Aug 7, Credit Bureau Asia reported H1 FY2025 revenue of S$30.2 million, up 2 per cent from that in H1 FY2024, while net profit before tax declined 3 per cent to S$15.4 million. 

 

Despite ongoing US trade policy uncertainties, the group highlighted that it maintained a net profit margin above 50 per cent. Koo also noted back in April that, having grown organically since the 1990s, the company continues to explore strategic acquisitions across the Asia-Pacific, in areas aligned with its core business. 

 

He added that Credit Bureau Asia is actively evaluating several opportunities with a prudent approach, focusing only on deals that offer strong long-term value at the right price.