Singtel

Singapore's SingTel is reportedly mulling a sale of a minority stake its wholly-owned Australian subsidiary, Optus, via an IPO that could raise as much as US$5 billion.

SingTel said today its regional mobile user base was up 45 percent to almost 198 million in the second-quarter against a year earlier, notes AFP.

SingTel saw its net profit slip in the first quarter as the company was hit by a negative currency impact.

Telecompaper notes that SingTel has registered more than 170,000 iPhone 3G activations across the group since launching the device in July in Australia (Optus), and in Singapore (SingTel), India (Bharti Airtel) and the Philippines (Globe Telecom) in August.

SingTel, the Singapore-based pan-Asian mobile group, has reported a 12 percent drop in quarterly net profit citing unfavourable currency movements and costs associated with Apple's iPhone 3G.

Pakistani mobile operator Warid Telecom has been given a cash injection of some US$250 million by its two main shareholders Abu Dhabi Group and Singapore's SingTel.

The Google Android-powered G1 will debut in Australia on 16 February via SingTel's Optus, reports PC World.