Singtel's review of its digital units is long overdue

Annabeth Leow

Published Tue, May 18, 2021 · 05:50 AM

MAINBOARD-LISTED Singtel last week announced impairments on the back of trouble at digital businesses Amobee and Trustwave, which are now facing a strategic review.

The exercise marks the first major move by new chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon - not counting the revamp of infocomm technology business unit NCS, unveiled when he was still CEO-designate in end-2020.

Analysts have largely shrugged off the resultant exceptional losses, while hailing the strategic review as a catalyst for better days at Singtel. Indeed, a Maybank Kim Eng report referred to the exercise as "cleaning up the present, moving to the future".

But the writing had really been on the wall for a long time for Singtel's struggling digital businesses - rai…