The telco champions

Softbank Mobile, a division the Softbank Group, won the trophy for the Best Asian Telecom Carrier for a second year in a row while CSL won the Best Mobile Carrier category, both carriers impressing the judges for "driving change" in two very competitive markets.

But Axiata was the big winner of the night with three trophies. XL Axiata won Best Emerging Market Carrier while its CEO Hasnul Suhaimi was voted Telecom CEO of the Year, and parent company Axiata won the Best Regional Mobile Group for the second straight year for its operational excellence in multiple Asian markets.

Hong Kong Broadband Network and BT Global Services were also repeat year-on-year winners, reclaiming the prize for Best Fixed-line and Broadband Carrier and Best Managed Services Provider, respectively.

Meanwhile, NTT Communications took home its second award for Best International Wholesale Carrier, having previously won the title in 2008. (NTT Com also won the Best Asian Telecom Carrier award in 2005.)

This year's awards also featured two new categories to recognize specific projects notable for their innovation and service to the community. Singapore's NBN was named the Most Innovative Telecom Project, with executives from OpenNet and Nucleus Connect both on hand to jointly accept the award. And Roshan's M-Paisa mobile payment service in Afghanistan picked up the inaugural Best Community Telecom Project award.

The awards this year emphasized innovation and leadership, said Per Dahlberg, chairman of the judging panel. "Tonight's winners were chosen because they've demonstrated the ability to create fresh opportunities for themselves and to execute on them."

The winners were presented with their trophies in a ceremony at the Intercontinental Hotel in Singapore on April 12.

The Winners' List