STARHUB reported yesterday a 7.7 per cent decline in net profit for the first quarter, dragged down mainly by lower sales of its broadband and pay-TV services.

Net profit for the three months ended March 31, 2014, was $84.2 million, down from $91.2 million a year ago. This translated to earnings of 4.9 cents per share for the quarter, compared to 5.3 cents in the year-ago quarter. Revenue fell 1.5 per cent to $571 million, due to lower service revenue and fewer sales of handsets.

In particular, sales of broadband services fell 13.7 per cent to $53.9 million. StarHub gained market share, but has been edging into a competitive market in this area, said CEO Tan Tong Hai at a media briefing. As a reflection of this, the average revenue per user (Arpu) for broadband services in the quarter fell $6 to $39.