Singaporean operator StarHub forecast a return to service revenue growth this year, after profit and sales were mostly flat in the second half of 2021 and capex plunged.

In an earnings release, the operator predicted service revenue to increase by at least 10 per cent, but noted the figure will be offset by lower entertainment sales due to declines in pay-TV subscribers and related advertising revenue.

CEO Nikhil Eapen highlighted “strong financial results despite significant macroeconomic” and Covid-19 (coronavirus) impacts.

Net profit in H2 2021 grew 1 per cent year-on-year to SGD81.4 million ($60.4 million), with revenue flat at SGD1.1 billion as weakness in mobile and pay-TV were offset by rises in the broadband and enterprise segments.

Mobile revenue remained at SGD270.9 million due to lower prepaid revenue and equipment sales fell 9.2 per cent to SGD237.1 million.

The operator’s prepaid user based dropped 17 per cent to 468,000, while post-paid rose 4.9 per cent to 1.5 million, pushing the overall figure up 1.3 per cent.

Post-paid and prepaid ARPU were down 8 per cent and 11.4 per cent to SGD30 and SGD10, respectively. Average data usage per customer increased 15.3 per cent to 12.8GB.

Enterprise revenue grew 6.4 per cent to SGD372.6 million as a result of higher contributions from its cybersecurity services unit, and broadband sales rose 8.4 per cent to SGD98.9 million on improved ARPU as customers moved to high-tier data plans.

Full year capex was SGD76.5 million, or 3.7 per cent of revenue, which was nearly 50 per cent below its guidance.

Capex for 2022 is forecast at 7 per cent to 9 per cent of revenue.