Singtel's Intouch, Bharti Telecom deals promise long-term benefits

SINGAPORE Telecommunications (Singtel), South-east Asia's biggest telco, is reaping the benefits of taking the risk of investing early in growth markets in Asia. When the European telcos started to privatise, as part of the continent's liberation process, Singtel was there to look for investments. However, the company soon realised that it made better sense to invest nearer home rather than trying to invest and oversee assets located thousands of kilometres away.

Over the past decade and a half, Singtel invested in markets such as India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, among others, by buying stakes in Bharti Airtel (India), PT Telkomsel (Indonesia), Globe Telecom (the Philippines) and AIS (Thailand). This is apart from its purchase of Optus, Australia's second biggest mobile operator.

At the time that the investments were made, it was by no means a given that these companies would flourish and the markets themselves would prove to be among the world's highest growing, both in terms of revenue and mobile users, outside of China.