TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Picking Up The Pieces

Picking Up The Pieces

Eric Friedebach (friedebach@yahoo.com)
26 Aug 2005 11:52:06 -0700

by S. Dinakar, Forbes.com, 09.05.05

Singapore Telecom's regional ambitions are looking smarter now. The
turnaround is starkly evident at Optus in Australia. Lee Hsien Yang's
vision mirrors that of his father, Lee Kuan Yew, who, as Singapore's
first prime minister, transformed it from a tropical slum in the 1960s
into a regional economic powerhouse. Lee, his youngest son, wants to
turn Singapore Telecommunications, the island nation's biggest
company, into a regional telecom powerhouse.

The son's voyage into emerging markets is expensive and risky --
buying stakes in Asian telcos in 1999-2002 cost nearly $10 billion,
driving SingTel into debt. The stock suffered, sliding to 92 cents
(U.S.) per share, less than half of what foreign investors paid when
SingTel listed on the Singapore bourse in 1993.

But Lee stands vindicated today in his efforts to convert a sleepy
state monopoly into a nimble Pan-Asian telecom carrier. The stock now
trades at $1.60. His forays into foreign lands are beginning to pay
off.

http://www.forbes.com/business/global/2005/0905/100.html

To read without registration, try http://www.bugmenot.com/

Eric Friedebach
/And now it's time for: Jaromir Weather/

Post Followup Article Use your browser's quoting feature to quote article into reply
Go to Next message: USTelecom dailyLead: "VoIP Market Draws a Crowd"
Go to Previous message: Angus TeleManagement Group: "Telecom Update #494, August 26, 2005"
TELECOM Digest: Home Page