Singaporean telco Singtel has announced a company reorganization that will include selling off infrastructure such as towers, satellites, subsea cables, and data centers.
This week company this week announced a ‘strategic reset’ that will focus on delivering 5G and digital services, and ‘unlocking the value of infrastructure assets.’
As part of the reorganization, the company will look to sell a number of digital infrastructure assets including its data center portfolio.
“The Group currently holds a large and unique portfolio of infrastructure assets including towers, satellites, subsea cables, and data centers across the region,” the company said. “It has already begun a partial sale via auction of Optus’ towers in Australia to maximize proceeds from the sale and seeks to more actively recycle its assets.”
The company has a portfolio of 10 data centers across Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong, including the 570,000 sq ft DC West facility in Singapore.
Group CEO Yuen Kuan Moon added that demand for such assets “have surged and made valuations very compelling.”
“The timing is now good for us to improve returns from these holdings where appropriate, to grow the company and maximize value for Singtel shareholders. It is also important that we unlock the value of these assets so that we can continue to reinvest in world-class infrastructure,” he said.
Going forward Singtel said it would focus on its 5G market share in Singapore and Australia on both the consumer and enterprise side. The company said it would also double down its focus on its digital services subsidiary NCS, including reorganizing part of Trustwave’s cybersecurity technology services into NCS.
“This strategic reset is the most significant move in recent years to refocus the business and capitalize on technology proliferation and large-scale digitalization,” added Kuan. “We intend to use this unique opportunity to make profound changes, restructure and reposition to emerge stronger.”
Though profitable, Singtel has seen its revenue and profit share decline sharply. In its most recent earnings figures the company saw its net profit down 30 percent year-on-year, and a 49 percent decline including exceptional one-off charges to S$554 million (US$418 million).
Singtel isn't the only telco in APAC undergoing a reshuffle. In South Korea, SK Telecom recently announced plans to split the business in two, but said it would keep its data center business. Sejong Telecom also sold a data center and landing station to Stonepeak-backed Singaporean firm Digital Edge.
