StarHub to acquire MyRepublic’s mobile business amid ongoing telco consolidation

[SINGAPORE] StarHub on Thursday (Oct 8) said it will acquire MyRepublic’s mobile business.

This follows an earlier agreement between the two parties to migrate all of the mobile virtual network operator’s (MVNO) 4G mobile customers from M1’s network – which MyRepublic mobile ran on – to StarHub’s mobile network.

The acquisition will have no impact on MyRepublic’s mobile service customers, who are being progressively migrated to StarHub’s network.

“The acquisition brings together complementary strengths while preserving the distinct MyRepublic mobile brand and proposition for customers,” said StarHub in a bourse filing.

StarHub will then own both MyRepublic’s broadband and mobile businesses, having acquired its broadband business in August last year.

As Singapore’s digital needs continue to grow, the acquisition will allow greater scale to be directed towards sustained network investment, service innovation and customer experience, StarHub noted.

During an earnings briefing in August for the first half of the year, StarHub CEO Nikhil Eapen said he expects smaller MVNOs to be bought by larger players as the industry consolidates.

“There’s a natural progression in which MVNOs will gravitate (around) and then be absorbed and adopted by the large, well-capitalised players,” he noted.

Consolidation needed

Analysts have long pushed for a consolidation of Singapore’s telco industry, amid falling mobile revenue and average revenue per user.

Mobile-service revenue for StarHub fell 10.5 per cent year on year to S$245.3 million in H1 ended Jun 30, from S$274.1 million.

StarHub’s underlying net profit, excluding Ensign, fell 76.1 per cent to S$12.4 million, from S$51.9 million the year before, said Prem Jearajasingam, analyst at CGS International.

Singtel Singapore’s first-quarter operating revenue fell 3.1 per cent year on year to S$901 million, from S$929 million. Singtel attributed the dip to “continued intense price competition”.

StarHub, in particular, has been “driving consolidation”, said Eapen in August.

In addition to the consolidation of MyRepublic’s mobile customers, StarHub recently migrated customers from MVNO redOne to its budget brand, eight.

More recently in September, both StarHub and Keppel confirmed that they are in talks over a potential deal involving M1.

“With ongoing consolidation, we are bringing greater scale to invest more effectively in the networks, resilience and innovation that Singapore will increasingly depend on,” said Eapen.