GROUP CONSUMER

In Australia, operating revenue grew 7.4% despite heightened competition. The increase was driven mainly by higher equipment sales and handset leasing, and customer growth with record net additions of 454,000 branded postpaid handset customers for the year. Mobile service revenue was stable as postpaid customer gains was negated by ARPU decline amid intense data price competition. Mass Market Fixed revenue remained stable with higher off-net revenue, driven by NBN customer growth of 137,000 from a year ago, offset by lower on-net revenue. NBN migration revenues fell 3.6%, hit by the temporary suspension in the rollout of HFC services over the NBN during the financial year. EBITDA was stable but would have grown 2.6% excluding NBN migration revenues and dispute settlement recorded in FY 2018.

In Singapore, operating revenue was stable in a highly competitive market. Including equipment sales, total Mobile revenue was flat. Mobile service revenue fell 3.8% from lower voice and ARPU dilution partially offset by growth in data. Postpaid continued its strong momentum with net additions of 125,000 customers for the year. Fixed broadband revenue rose 1.7% on increased take-up of higher speed fibre plans. TV revenue, boosted by the 2018 World Cup revenue, grew 4.9%. However, with the steep decline in voice revenues, EBITDA dipped 2.3%.

GROUP ENTERPRISE

Operating revenue slid 2.3% impacted by price competition and longer sales cycle in a cautious trading environment, particularly in Australia. Revenue would have been stable in constant currency terms with growth in ICT offset by decline in legacy carriage services especially voice. ICT revenue, which constituted 48% (FY 2018: 46%) of Group Enterprise’s revenue, grew 2.1% in constant currency terms. The growth was driven by cyber security, cloud and digital services, which in total contributed approximately S$1.3 billion in revenue, up 15% from last year. EBITDA however declined 9.0% mainly from price erosions on renewals of major public sector ICT contracts, lower voice revenues and investments in digitalisation initiatives. Including higher depreciation charges from investments in network, data centres and project related capital spending, EBIT fell 14%.

GROUP DIGITAL LIFE

Group Digital Life posted robust revenue growth of 13% to S$1.22 billion from digital marketing arm Amobee and video-on-demand streaming service HOOQ. Amobee’s revenue rose 12% fuelled by growth in its programmatic advertising business, and contributions from Videology assets (platform for advanced TV and video advertising acquired in August 2018) and first time recognition of technology licence fees from ITV plc, which mitigated the decline in its managed media business. HOOQ’s revenue more than doubled, boosted by growth in paying subscribers and increased scale. Group Digital Life’s negative EBITDA increased due mainly to Amobee’s lower revenue from its higher-margin media business and inclusion of Videology’s losses.