Singaporean fixed and mobile operator M1 Limited (M1) says its net income for FY2011 climbed 4.5% year-on-year to SGD164.1 million (USD83 million), while operating revenue increased 8.8% to SGD1.06 billion. The company said the rises were driven by higher service revenue and handset sales; service revenues rose 2.4% y-o-y to SGD750.5 million, buoyed by strong mobile subscriber growth and an improved contribution from fixed services. Further, turnover from non-voice services increased 3.7% to account for 35.6% of service revenue, fuelled by the popularity of smartphones, which are now used by around 67% of total post-paid customers.
As at 31 December 2011 M1 had 2.015 million mobile customers, up 104,000 year-on-year. Monthly mobile contract churn improved to 1.3% from 1.4% in 2010. In addition, M1 reported 44,000 fixed services customers, including 22,000 on a fibre connection. Commenting on the firm’s fibre-optic rollout, Ms Karen Kooi, Chief Executive Officer of M1, said: ‘The coverage of the Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network (NGNBN) is expected to be nationwide by mid-year and take-up of fibre services is likely to gain momentum. With our newly launched NGNBN active network and soon to be completed nationwide LTE network, M1 is well placed to capture data growth in both the fixed and mobile segments.’