SINGAPORE, May 9 (Bernama) -- Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) says the group has posted another quarter of strong growth in customer acquisitions.

As at March 31, 2012, the group had a total mobile customer base of 445 million, an increase of 11 per cent or 42.9 million from a year ago, the company said in a statement today.

In Singapore, its total mobile customer base grew by 273,000 customers or 8.3 per cent from a year ago to 3.58 million as at March 31, 2012.

Full year net additions in the postpaid segment were 171,000 customers, lifting total postpaid customer base by 9.6 per cent to 1.95 million. The growth was driven by increasing demand for smartphones and data SIMs from integrated mobile broadband bundles.

In the prepaid segment, SingTel's customer base grew by 102,000 customers or 6.7 per cent to 1.63 million, led by strong demand for 3G offerings such as 3G SIM, data and Blackberry value added services.

SingTel has a 32 per cent effective interest in Bharti Airtel, India's largest GSM operator, which has significant presence in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Africa.

Airtel's total mobile customer base reached 241 million as at March 31, 2012, an increase of 29.2 million or 14 per cent from a year ago.

Meanwhile, Telkomsel's total mobile customer base stood at 110 million, up 10.5 million or 11 per cent.

Optus continued its postpaid customer growth momentum with net additions of 82,000 this quarter which included a one-off reduction of 33,000 to a wholesale service provider's customer base.

Excluding this adjustment, postpaid customer net additions this quarter were 115,000.

Net additions for the full year were 421,000, bringing Optus' total mobile customer base to 9.49 million, up 5 per cent from a year ago.

The number of 3G customers increased to 6.63 million, a 6 per cent increase from a quarter ago. This included a base of 1.58 million wireless broadband customers, an increase of 23 per cent from a year ago.

-- BERNAMA