Quote fromwww.theage.com.au
Singapore’s third-largest telecommunications company MobileOne Ltd., or M1, is looking at overseas acquisition targets as its domestic market is already saturated, its chief executive said.
“We are in talks with two companies in Asia for an acquisition or an investment,” Neil Montefiore told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview late Monday on the sidelines of the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress.
Montefiore declined to provide names of companies, but said M1 is interested in investment opportunities in the areas of content delivery and social networking. The company is also keen to evaluate opportunities in developed markets.
In addition, M1 is in discussions with Apple Inc. to bring the iPhone to Asia, Montefiore said.
Apple launched the iPhone in Europe this past Friday and in the U.S. earlier this year. The Asian launch has been set for next year. Apple is hoping to sell 10 million of the phones in 2008.
Mobile phone penetration exceeds 100 percent in Singapore and Montefiore said the competitive environment there remains challenging.
M1, Singapore’s No. 3 telecommunications company by subscribers behind Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. and StarHub Ltd., also wants to diversify its revenue base by offering wireless and fixed-line broadband services in its domestic market and branching out into new areas such as mobile advertising.
And where’s is our Malaysian Celco’s doing anything abt it? Probably nothing!