Are Singtel's digital assets hot buys, or hot potatoes?

MORE than S$3.99 billion.

That's how much Singtel's digital advertising unit Amobee could be worth, according to Maybank Kim Eng analyst Kareen Chan. And the telecom giant has a host of other digital businesses - such as its e-wallets - that could be monetised some day.

But retail investors have long expressed impatience at the wait for returns - indeed, scepticism about the value - at mainboard-listed Singtel's digital businesses, where the telco has spent more than S$1.09 billion on acquisitions over the last decade.