Singapore's M1 has reported a 5.5% year-on-year decrease in profit for the third quarter to S$34.5 million ($24.9 million), in a result the operator mainly attributed to higher acquisition and retention costs.
Service revenue for the quarter grew 1.9% over the same period to S$190.2 million, with growth mainly driven by a 25.9% increase in fixed service revenue to S$37.8 million.
Mobile revenue by contrast declined 0.1% to S$142.6 million, with postpaid revenue up 1.4% to S$129.4 million, but prepaid revenue falling 12.8% to S$13.2 million.
During the quarter, M1 added 24,000 postpaid mobile customers to take its total to 1.36 million. Postpaid churn stayed stable at 1%, and mobile data grew to account for 64.6% of service revenue – up from 57.3% a year earlier.
M1's fiber customer base meanwhile increased by 4,000 quarter-on-quarter to 204,000, with the operator recording growth across both its corporate and residential segments.
For the first nine months of 2018, net profit decreased 1.4% year-on-year to S$105.5 million.
Service revenue for the period grew 3.4% from the prior year to S$568 million, with fixed line revenues growing 22.5% year-on-year to S$106.4 million, mobile revenue growing 2.1% to S$429.7 million, and international call services revenue shrinking 23.8% to S$31.9 million.