StarHub reported service revenue growth of 10.7% year-on-year to $416.0 million for the quarter ended 31 March 2022 from $375.7 million in 1Q2021, and total revenue year-on-year growth of 5.3% to $512.7 million in 1Q2022 compared to $487.1 million a year ago.
Higher service revenue was driven by a 3.8% rise in mobile revenue, 9.6% growth in broadband Revenue, 3.9% increase in entertainment revenue and a 18.9% growth in enterprise revenue. 1Q2022 also marked the first financial consolidation of the HKBN JOS Singapore and Malaysia businesses, following the completion of the acquisition on 3 January 2022.
StarHub is underway with its DARE+ transformation. Year-to-date, StarHub is making significant and critical investments to digitalise customer engagement, transform its IT operations to cloud-based platforms and build scalable platforms across cybersecurity, cloud and connectivity.
StarHub’s chief executive, Nikhil Eapen, commented on the results, “We continue to see leading indicators of our DARE+ transformation, driving customer value with digital products, digital experiences and digital services. Our consumer businesses achieved stable and rising ARPU across most segments, while our enterprise business sustained good year-on-year growth.”
StarHub’s mobile business continued to sustain its 5G lead with over 400,000 subscribers at the end of 1Q2022, contributing to a rise in postpaid ARPU to $29 in 1Q2022 compared to $27 a year ago, as well as an expansion in postpaid subscribers by 84,000 subscribers year-on-year. Mobile revenue rose 3.8% to $134.1 million in 1Q2022 from $129.1 million in 1Q2021.
Similarly, ARPU for the broadband business rose to $33 in 1Q2022 from $31 a year ago due to higher prices achieved for the 1Gbps plan and higher take-up of the premium 2Gbps plans, reflecting results from the Infinity Play strategy. Coupled with a stable subscriber base of 484,000, revenue rose 9.6% year-on-year to $51.5 million in 1Q2022 from $47.0 million a year ago.
Entertainment continued to see a growth in subscriber base lifted by traction for OTT propositions. ARPU declined to $31 mainly due to dilution caused by the larger total entertainment subscriber base – an effect of the reclassification. Excluding the effect of the reclassification, ARPU would have been higher year-on-year. The segment’s revenue rose 3.9% year-on-year to $47.2 million compared to $45.4 million in 1Q2021.
The consumer business continues to drive richer customer lifetime value through its Infinity Play vision that currently has three new verticals on top of connectivity: entertainment, cyber and online protection services, and cloud gaming.
StarHub’s enterprise segment recorded an 18.9% YoY growth in revenue to $183.3 million in 1Q2022 from $154.2 million in 1Q2021 lifted by a 21.2% growth in revenue from cybersecurity eervices to $51.5 million and $27.9 million in revenue from JOS.
The enterprise business continues to focus on growth opportunities from the convergence of connectivity, cloud and cybersecurity. It has launched new products, such as managed SASE, straddling these verticals with healthy market traction achieved.
