Singapore Telecommunications, Southeast Asia’s biggest phone company is competing against the Vodafone Group plc and Telecom Corp. of New Zealand. Many analysts predict that Vodafone may bid aggressively to improve its position from Australia’s third biggest cell phone operator.
We do have a lot of money and there’s pressure to make investments, but we’re not going to burn a hole in our pocket, Lee Hsien Yang, SingTel’s chief executive, said in an interview with the press. Judge us by the track record of the investments we’ve made and our ability to walk away when it doesn’t make sense.
Recent press reports have speculated that SingTel would bid $10 billion for Optus, a third more than the Australian company’s market value. SingTel shares duly suffered their biggest one-day drop in three months following the press interest.
SingTel is being pushed by investors to expand abroad to combat greater rivalry at home as Singapore opened up its phone market about a year ago. Along with Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore, the company believes Australia, as the region’s most important telecommunications sector.
