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Radio report this morning Singtel mobile networks is down anybody affected ? Will it kena fine again ?
Singtel Innov8 launches US$250 mil AI fund to back growth-stage start-ups globally
Singtel Innov8, the corporate venture capital arm of Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel), has launched a US$250 million ($320 million) fund to invest in growth-stage artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups worldwide.
The AI Growth Fund will focus on companies developing technologies for customer engagement, network operations, cybersecurity, IT automation, enterprise AI platforms and industry-specific applications. Innov8 says portfolio companies will work with Singtel' s operating units to test, integrate and scale their products in commercial environments.
" Our AI Growth Fund gives Singtel Group strategic access to transformative AI technologies at a pivotal stage of growth. It also enables us to test, integrate and scale AI innovations across our networks, platforms and digital infrastructure,&rdquo says Edgar Hardless, chief executive officer of Singtel Innov8
The new vehicle comes in addition to Innov8' s existing US$250 million evergreen fund, bringing the venture arm' s total managed capital to about US$500 million. Since Singtel' s strategic reset in 2021, the firm' s investments have generated an internal rate of return of 26%, according to the company.
The fund is intended to support the rollout of AI technologies across Singtel' s businesses. The group' s Singapore operations and Australian subsidiary, Optus, will provide operational environments to trial applications in areas such as customer experience, network management, and workflow automation.
Meanwhile, Singtel&rsquo s Digital InfraCo (including the Nxera data centres and the RE:AI cloud platform) will supply computing capacity for AI workloads. As for NCS, it will help design, integrate and operationalise systems for enterprise and government customers at scale.
The fund complements Digital InfraCo' s recently announced Centre of Excellence for Applied AI with Nvidia, with Innov8 identifying and backing start-ups across the AI stack to give enterprises and government agencies a faster, more cost-effective path to deployment.
Singtel is also developing what it describes as an " AI Grid" , combining 5G-Advanced networks, edge computing and cloud capabilities to support AI-driven applications. The infrastructure is managed through the company' s Paragon platform, allowing enterprises to run workloads across network and cloud environments.
&ldquo Unlocking AI&rsquo s full potential requires&hellip a vibrant, collaborative ecosystem where innovation can truly thrive. This initiative underscores the Group&rsquo s mission of empowering enterprises, governments and consumers with world-class digital and AI capabilities, reinforcing Singapore&rsquo s and the region&rsquo s positio
Singtel unit launches US$250 million global AI growth fund
The Singtel Innov8 fund will back high-growth AI startups
[SINGAPORE] Singtel&rsquo s wholly owned corporate venture capital arm has launched a US$250 million artificial intelligence (AI) growth fund to invest in high-growth AI startups globally and accelerate applied adoption of the technology across the group.
Singtel Innov8 announced the launch on Friday (Mar 13), saying that its AI Growth Fund will focus on growth-stage AI companies in areas critical to Singtel&rsquo s future. These will include network operations, cybersecurity and IT automation.
Edgar Hardless, chief executive of Singtel Innov8, said: &ldquo By investing with clear deployment pathways, we accelerate applied AI adoption for enterprises, governments and consumers across the region.&rdquo
Singtel said the fund aims to create a pipeline for deployable AI solutions across its operating companies. Singtel and Optus will test the startups&rsquo AI solutions internally Digital InfraCo will provide the computing power to run them and NCS will integrate and operationalise these solutions for enterprises and governments.
Alongside the existing US$250 million evergreen fund, this brings Innov8&rsquo s total managed capital to US$500 million.
Singtel said that the AI Growth Fund complements Digital InfraCo&rsquo s recently announced Centre of Excellence for Applied AI with Nvidia, which will begin operations in about three months. The centre will provide enterprise-grade infrastructure, while Innov8&rsquo s role is to find and fund promising AI startups.
Innov8&rsquo s investments have generated an internal rate of return of 26 per cent since Singtel&rsquo s strategic reset in 2021, added the company. Innov8 has more than 120 investments globally, including in Carro, Endowus and ShopBack.
&ldquo Unlocking AI&rsquo s full potential requires more than capital,&rdquo said Hardless. &ldquo It needs a vibrant, collaborative ecosystem where innovation can truly thrive.&rdquo
JPMorgan sticks with &lsquo overweight&rsquo on Singtel as share buybacks begin early
JPMorgan is maintaining its &ldquo overweight&rdquo call on Singapore Telecommunications (Singtel), raising its target price to $5.80 from $5.20 previously.
The move comes as Singtel has executed its share buyback programme earlier than expected, as part of its broader capital recycling strategy to boost shareholder returns, according to analysts Ranjan Sharma, Sigrid Qiu and Ankur Rudra.
Singtel has set a goal of monetising $9 billion in assets, with the proceeds earmarked for $5 billion in dividends, a $2 billion share buyback and $2 billion in growth initiatives. It has already begun the buyback, repurchasing roughly $50 million worth of shares since Feb 27, earlier than JPMorgan had anticipated.
The analysts see room for the monetisation target to increase as the value of several portfolio companies has risen. &ldquo If the asset monetisation target is increased, Singtel could increase its planned dividends and buybacks and/or support shareholder distributions over a longer period, in our view,&rdquo they write in a March 6 note.
Even after a 122% total shareholder return since Jan 2024, JPMorgan believes Singtel&rsquo s underlying non-listed assets &ldquo remain deeply discounted&rdquo at a forward Ev/Ebitda of three times. Buybacks and asset recycling could help narrow that discount.
Growth in the infrastructure businesses is also expected to support earnings. The launch of 58 megawatts of additional data centre capacity in Singapore last month should drive stronger contributions from the segment.
In Australia, Optus added about 27,000 wireless customers quarter-on-quarter, while average revenue per user (ARPU) remained stable in 3QFY2026 despite the disruption caused by the Triple Zero outage. The analysts believe Optus can gradually improve ARPUs if its customer base remains resilient, and the stronger Australian dollar &mdash up about 6% since September 2025 &mdash could provide a FX tailwind to earnings.
JPMorgan analysts say they increased the target price to $5.80, mainly due to the roll forward to March 2027 and a higher P/E multiple of 20 times, up from 19 times previously. &ldquo We apply a higher target multiple due to the capital recycling programme and earnings growth potential of the non-listed assets supporting the stock&rsquo s rerating,&rdquo write the analysts.
However, they &ldquo moderately lowered&rdquo their earnings per share (EPS) forecasts for FY2027 and FY2028 by 1% to 3% as they lowered their earnings forecasts for Bharti Airtel, which Singtel has a stake in. Their projections also do not yet incorporate Singtel&rsquo s recent acquisition of STT GDC.
As at 11.40 am, shares in Singtel are trading 8 cents lower, or 1.6% down, at $4.92.
War broke out. Monday all counter drops. Sad
Singtel' s Digital InfraCo launches ' micro AI grid' with Nvidia to bridge pilot-to-production gap
Singtel&rsquo s Digital InfraCo and Nvidia are launching a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Applied AI in Punggol Digital District. The CoE will serve as a &ldquo micro AI grid,&rdquo helping organisations validate AI models and workflows before full-scale deployment. It will focus on preparing for next-generation Nvidia GPUs, ecosystem integration, edge AI, and applied AI talent development.
Singtel hit with S$1 million fine for 2024 disruption that affected over 500,000 users
The incident on Oct 8 last year affected more than 500,000 users for more than four hours
[SINGAPORE] The Infocomm and Media Development Authority (IMDA) imposed a S$1 million fine on Singtel for a 2024 voice disruption, it said on Thursday (Dec 11).
The October incident last year affected about 500,000 of Singtel&rsquo s residential and corporate users for more than four hours, noted IMDA.
&ldquo The public&rsquo s access to customer service lines for some government agencies, healthcare organisations, banks and companies, and emergency call services was also affected,&rdquo said the statutory board.
Singtel Singapore chief executive Ng Tian Chong accepted IMDA&rsquo s ruling and the financial penalty.
&ldquo We recognise the seriousness of the disruption to our fixed voice service last October,&rdquo he said. &ldquo I would like to express my sincere apologies once again for the disruption and inconvenience experienced.&rdquo
In determining the financial penalty, IMDA noted that it considered the scale and impact of the disruption, as well as the time taken to restore the network.
It deemed the impact of the incident as &ldquo significant&rdquo , and said that the potential consequences on the safety and security of the public &ldquo could have been very serious&rdquo .
IMDA&rsquo s findings were supported by independent external consultants appointed. The authority&rsquo s investigation concluded that the incident was within Singtel&rsquo s control to prevent. It also determined that the incident was not due to a cyberattack.
Ng added: &ldquo Following the incident, we took immediate remediation action to prevent a re-occurrence of the incident by improving our network design and hardware configuration and enhancing our monitoring processes. We also worked with our clients to strengthen their customer service hotline resiliency.&rdquo
What caused the disruption
IMDA&rsquo s investigation found that Singtel hosted two separate virtualised firewalls on the same hardware. One was for its fixed-line voice system, and another for the monitoring system for home broadband routers and its pay TV set-top boxes.
This meant that both virtualised firewalls shared the same hardware memory resources.
As the monitoring system&rsquo s virtualised firewall did not have &ldquo adequate filters&rdquo installed to protect the hardware against high-intensity traffic, the shared memory resources of the hardware were overwhelmed when the monitoring system faced increased traffic intensity on Oct 8, 2024.
This caused the virtualised firewall of the voice system to also malfunction and operate intermittently.
Although voice traffic from the affected voice system should have been seamlessly redirected to a separate voice system at an unaffected site, the intermittency of the affected voice system&rsquo s virtualised firewall prevented this from happening.
As a result, calls were dropped intermittently as voice traffic alternated between the affected and unaffected voice systems. The incident was resolved only after Singtel fully moved all voice traffic to the unaffected voice system.
IMDA added that it holds telcos which are key service providers, such as Singtel, to a &ldquo high level of service reliability&rdquo .
&ldquo IMDA will not hesitate to take strong action under the Telecommunications Act, including imposing financial penalties,&rdquo said the statutory board. &ldquo Under the Telecommunications Act, IMDA may impose a penalty of up to S$1 million or up to 10 per cent of their annual turnover.&rdquo
In the 2025 financial year ended March, Singtel posted a S$14.1 billion operating revenue. It returned to the black in the second half year with a net profit of S$2.8 billion.
In September, an emergency service outage by Singtel subsidiary Optus resulted in the death of three people in Australia. That was followed by a less-impactful Singtel mobile outage on Nov 18, with more than 1,600 reports on Downdetector in the afternoon.
Simple, because I know it is worth much more.
As long as I get my dividends every six months and it is not less than 5 cents a share,
There is no dilemma at all. Just wait for the next payout till I don't need them any more for my salmon nutrition.
Then what is left will be for my sending off.
If it's four dollars, then, who cares, I won't even feel it. My executors will have to deal with any dilemmas.
Trade with no dilemmas
As long as I get my dividends every six months and it is not less than 5 cents a share,
There is no dilemma at all. Just wait for the next payout till I don't need them any more for my salmon nutrition.
Then what is left will be for my sending off.
If it's four dollars, then, who cares, I won't even feel it. My executors will have to deal with any dilemmas.
Trade with no dilemmas
spore1 ( Date: 21-Nov-2025 12:27) Posted:
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If the price dropped back to 4.00 then you will be saying why I didn't sell ...dilemma...
MrBear12 ( Date: 21-Nov-2025 12:23) Posted:
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There will be more dividends...
And capital gains
Wait
And capital gains
Wait
spore1 ( Date: 21-Nov-2025 11:34) Posted:
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8 cents dividend returned back to the market
mav1ryan ( Date: 21-Nov-2025 11:27) Posted:
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today dropped again, following market sentiments.
Potato ( Date: 20-Nov-2025 16:51) Posted:
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That's because singtel management can sing
https://youtu.be/j5or9SswngA?si=_eCwfaHhAZ5A3RsO
https://youtu.be/j5or9SswngA?si=_eCwfaHhAZ5A3RsO
just drop1%... not bad leh
No sbb today.
Shares buy back, 12th Nov, 13th Nov, 14th Nov
Singtel rises on higher earnings, special dividend all eyes on Yangzijiang Maritime listing
SINGAPORE &ndash Strong half-year earnings and a dividend bump lifted Singtel&rsquo s share price more than 5 per cent last week to $4.86 at the Nov 14 close.
The mainboard-listed telecommunications company on Nov 12 reported net underlying profit of $1.35 billion for the first half ended Sept 30, up 14 per cent from the same period a year earlier. Net underlying profit, from which dividends are paid, excludes one-off and exceptional items.
Singtel plans to pay an interim dividend of 8.2 cents a share, up 17 per cent from the same period in its last financial year.
Net profit for the half-year rose to $3.4 billion from $1.2 billion a year ago, after accounting for one-off gains from a partial stake sale in Indian associate Bharti Airtel and the merger of Singtel&rsquo s Thai associate Intouch Holdings with Gulf Energy Development.
This comes amid a serious outage at Singtel&rsquo s Australian subsidiary Optus in September that disrupted emergency services and was linked to three deaths, triggering ongoing investigations.
Singtel chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon said at the briefing that it is premature to speculate if Optus would be fined for the outage, although an independent panel has been convened to find out the cause.
Singtel did not make a provision on Optus after the incident.
For the first half, Optus posted a 27 per cent jump in operating earnings at A$283 million (S$240.2 million), spurred by growth in mobile use.
Singtel lifted the group&rsquo s operating profit growth guidance for the year ending March 31, 2026, to between the high single digits and low double digits.
It also lifted its forecast of regional associates&rsquo contribution by $100 million, to $1.1 billion.
In a report dated Nov 14, OCBC Investment Research analysts highlighted the prospect for Singtel&rsquo s technology services arm NCS to be an important growth driver as well.
However, they flagged potential challenges to growth of NCS&rsquo margins in the near term, given the cost of recruiting suitable talents.
Analysts also flagged foreign exchange risks after a strengthening Singapore dollar contributed to a downtick in revenue by 1.2 per cent from the same period in 2024, to $6.9 billion.
SIA slumps on Air India exposure
Shares for Singapore Airlines (SIA) Group dipped as low as $6.41 on Nov 14, down 3.6 per cent from the previous day&rsquo s close, before paring losses to close at $6.52.
This comes after first-half results released after trading hours on Nov 13 showed net profit falling 67.8 per cent year on year to $239 million, dragged down by lower interest income and SIA&rsquo s share of associate Air India&rsquo s losses.
SIA began accounting for Air India&rsquo s financial performance from December 2024. However, the Indian airline has been struggling with widening losses after a plane crash that killed 241 people on board in June 2025, and is also reportedly seeking financial aid from SIA.
Still, the group unveiled plans to pay its shareholders a special dividend of 10 cents a share each year over the next three financial years.
This will amount to about $900 million over the period, reflecting the group&rsquo s strong financial position, it said.
The first interim special dividend of three cents a share will be paid on Dec 23 to shareholders as at Dec 8.
In a Nov 14 report, OCBC Investment Research analyst Ada Lim reduced the fair value estimate for the counter from $7.10 a share to $6.40 a share.
&ldquo We think that SIA is nearing the end of the runway for exceptionalism, given that passenger yields have peaked and are on a moderating trajectory amidst intensifying competition, especially in the region,&rdquo Ms Lim said.
Nonetheless, she said SIA continues to hold long-term value in investors&rsquo portfolios, with its strong brand, service quality and product innovation allowing it to navigate the volatility and transition from recovery to growth going forward.
ST Engineering gained more than 2.7 per cent over the week to close at $8.49 on Nov 14 despite announcing a $667 million impairment for its iDirect satellite communications (satcom) business.
The write-down of assets in this business will save around $50 million in depreciation and amortisation, said Ms Lorraine Tan of Morningstar in a Nov 13 note.
This should be reflected in improving operating profit at its urban solutions and satcom segment from 2026, she added.
However, Ms Tan noted that the proposed total dividend per share of 23 cents for the 2025 financial year implies a 2.8 per cent dividend yield, based on an $8.10 fair value estimate.
&ldquo Following its share price rise this year, ST Engineering no longer trades at its historical dividend yield range of 4 per cent to 5 per cent,&rdquo she added.
Yangzijiang Financial halves after maritime spin-off
Shares of Yangzijiang Financial plummeted from $1.06 at the start of the week to 51.5 cents at the Nov 14 close, down more than 50 per cent after the cut-off passed for purchasers to receive a one-for-one in-specie distribution of Yangzijiang Maritime shares.
Nearly 136 million shares changed hands over the week.
This followed a Sept 4 extraordinary general meeting, where shareholders voted overwhelmingly in favour of hiving off Yangzijiang Financial&rsquo s maritime fund and investments business into Yangzijiang Maritime, a new group to be separately listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
After its listing on Nov 18, Yangzijiang Maritime is expected to have a market capitalisation of around $2.04 billion, while Yangzijiang Financial&rsquo s issued and paid-up capital will shrink by about $2 billion.
The move decouples the maritime fund and investments from the rest of Yangzijiang Financial&rsquo s investment management business, comprising mostly debt and real estate investments in China now facing a major slump.
Other market movers
There was some action on the small- and mid-cap front, with shipbuilder Nam Cheong closing the week at 83 cents, up more than 15 per cent through the week.
The Malaysia-based shipbuilder on Nov 14 reported earnings of RM45.8 million (S$14.4 million) for the third quarter ended Sept 30, down 3 per cent year on year on the back of a 15 per cent dip in revenue to RM170.8 million over the same period.
Still, Nam Cheong said demand for the offshore support vessels that it builds should stay buoyant as constraints to supply mount. New vessel construction is expected to be subdued owing to limited bank financing, while Malaysia&rsquo s policies limit foreign participation.
Meanwhile, UOB Kay Hian analysts John Cheong and Heidi Mo raised the target price for electronics manufacturing services provider Valuetronics from 83 cents to $1.03 and maintained a &ldquo buy&rdquo call on the counter, which they believe is &ldquo deeply undervalued&rdquo .
&ldquo This reflects improving earnings visibility and a stronger growth trajectory driven by increased contributions from new customers and a positive shift to higher-margin products,&rdquo they said.
Hong Kong-headquartered Valuetronics saw its shares gain more than 4 per cent over the week to close at 87 cents a share, after it announced on Nov 13 that its first-half net profit reached HK$93 million (S$15.5 million).
Speaking of Hong Kong, three new Singapore depository receipts (SDRs) of Hong Kong-listed tickers were listed on Nov 12: Laopu Gold, Trip.com and Baidu.
SDRs are not actual shares but a type of investment product that represents an interest in a stock or security that is listed on an overseas exchange.
They can be bought and sold in the same way as Singapore shares through existing brokers during local trading hours, and are priced in Singapore dollars with a smaller minimum trading size.
Don' t bother, it will fly above 5 dollars.
Share buybacks
12/11:- 1,527,400 @ 4.66-4.69 worth $ 7.16M
13/11:- 764,900 @ 4.74-4.76 worth $ 3.64M
14/11:- 1,500,000 @ 4.84-4.85 worth $ 7.27M
Total:- 3,792,300 @ 4.66-4.85 worth $18.07M
Trade with SBB
Share buybacks
12/11:- 1,527,400 @ 4.66-4.69 worth $ 7.16M
13/11:- 764,900 @ 4.74-4.76 worth $ 3.64M
14/11:- 1,500,000 @ 4.84-4.85 worth $ 7.27M
Total:- 3,792,300 @ 4.66-4.85 worth $18.07M
Trade with SBB
Newcomer19707016 ( Date: 14-Nov-2025 11:04) Posted:
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Singtel $4.92 looked attractive to sell. But never react.
Singtel remains &lsquo fully behind&rsquo Optus despite outages and lacklustre returns
Singtel chief says it has to &lsquo work very hard to rebuild the trust and the confidence&rsquo the outages have taken
[SINGAPORE] Minority shareholders of Singtel might be concerned over its investment in beleaguered Australian telco Optus, given the recent emergency call outage which resulted in fatalities.
Additionally, Optus&rsquo return on invested capital (ROIC) stood at 1.7 per cent over the past five years &ndash the lowest among Singtel&rsquo s business units. The company did not release specific ROIC figures for the other units.
This was disclosed by Singtel at a media briefing on Wednesday (Nov 12), following the announcement of its results.
Singtel group chief executive officer Yuen Kuan Moon noted that Singtel has invested A$9 billion (S$7.7 billion) in capital expenditures at Optus over the past five years.
In addition, Singtel has provided shareholder loans and cash injections. Most recently, Singtel pumped A$1.5 billion to renew Optus&rsquo spectrum.
However, Yuen was positive on the outlook for the Australian telco.
&ldquo The business momentum is actually strong. The industry is healthy. The market is actually a healthy market,&rdquo he said.
Responding to media queries regarding the exact amount they intend to invest into Optus in the short term, Yuen said that the proportion of revenue they spend on capital expenditure is in line with industry standards in Australia.
Additional figures provided by Singtel show that Optus spent about 16 per cent of their revenue on capital expenditure in FY2025.
This was in line with their competitors in Australia, according to Singtel.
But Yuen pointed out that their efforts to improve Optus have been reflected in recent results.
For the half year ended September 2025, Optus&rsquo operating revenue was up 2 per cent, and their earnings before interest and tax rose 27 per cent.
The Australian telco also benefited from a credit rating uplift from being part of the Singtel group, said the group CEO.
This will allow Optus to issue bonds at a more preferential rate and achieve tangible reductions in interest costs, he added.
Optus needs to rebuild trust
Despite the positive progress made in improving Optus, Yuen acknowledges that it will also need to rebuild trust with customers &ndash particularly after the recent &ldquo triple zero incident&rdquo .
In September, an emergency service outage by Optus resulted in the death of three people in Australia.
&ldquo We have to work very hard to rebuild the trust and the confidence it has taken,&rdquo he said.
Yuen added that the Optus board is &ldquo fully behind&rdquo the management to accelerate the transformation, focus on risk management and improve resiliency.
&ldquo This is something that we continue to do and emphasise on because we believe Optus continues to be a very important service provider in Australia,&rdquo he said, noting that Optus currently supports 10 million mobile customers in the country.
Optus chief executive officer Stephen Rue had told the Australian Senate inquiry last week that he has no plans to step down following the call outage.
Rue was quoted by Bloomberg as saying: &ldquo I firmly believe that another change of leader at this time is not what Optus needs or what our customers need... The disruption and uncertainty could actually set back the transformation under way and create further risks.&rdquo
Responding to queries from The Business Times, Yuen said that asking about a potential divestment of Optus is a &ldquo fair question&rdquo .
However, the group CEO emphasised that a general position Singtel takes for all its assets, including Optus, would be to &ldquo keep an open mind where it makes sense&rdquo .