I am pleased to report that M1 achieved our business and financial objectives for 2005, notwithstanding the rapidly changing market conditions. The main areas of growth in 2005 came from the prepaid segment, international call services and non-voice services.

With the increasing maturity of the mobile market and high level of mobile penetration, most of the growth in customer numbers came from the prepaid market. In revenue terms, we saw strong growth of 33% during the year. Part of this segment is typically quite transient in nature, eg tourists and foreigners working in Singapore, or users who have a specific short term requirement. While this represents scope for continued growth, it also means that customer numbers are not the key indicator. In terms of number of lines, the prepaid segment comprises 35% of our customer base as at end 2005, but accounted for 11% of mobile telecommunications revenue for the year.

Over time, we expect the features of prepaid service and postpaid service to converge and the distinction between a prepaid and postpaid customer to narrow. This has been happening already, as more of the value-added services available to postpaid customers have become available to prepaid customers, including seamless roaming and access to the MiWorld portal. In 2005, this accelerated further, with new price plans and changes to registration requirements bringing the prepaid service features closer to postpaid. M1 was the first to launch a prepaid card with free incoming calls and a daily deduction of a subscription amount. The strong growth in prepaid customers during the year can be attributed to the popularity of this price plan which was subsequently copied by the competition. In November, the prepaid market faced another shake-up with the introduction of more stringent registration guidelines by the regulator. We expect to see some negative impact on the reported prepaid customer base once the grace period for registering existing cards comes to an end, as dormant cards are unlikely to be registered and will therefore be cancelled.

M1 will adapt to the changing dynamics of the prepaid market and continue to develop innovative ways to address those customer segments best served by prepaid service. One such is the partnership, announced in December 2005, with PLDT and Smart Communications of the Philippines to address the Filipino community in Singapore.

International call service continues to be an area of growth for M1, although over time the pace of growth has slowed compared to when the market was first liberalised six years ago. In 2005, international call service revenue grew 9% and contributed 17% of service revenue. In traffic terms, M1 is still a relatively small player with an estimated 7-8% share of outgoing retail international minutes. This points to continued scope for growth as we continue to make inroads into the market, particularly in the fixed line corporate segment. While we recognise the increasing competition in this space, particularly from the growth in use of voice over internet protocol (VOIP) as a solution, we also see this as a potential opportunity to harness.

An important component of our international call service revenue comes from customers who use roaming services, both M1 customers roaming overseas and overseas customers roaming onto the M1 network while in Singapore. With growing affluence in the region, lower cost of travel and increasing trade and investment links, the traveller segment is an important growth opportunity that M1 seeks to tap. Our partnership initiatives – the regional alliance, Asia Mobility Initiative, and M1’s partnership with the global mobile communications group, Vodafone – play a key role in realising this potential, as does our new partnership with Telekom Malaysia forged through the acquisition of its strategic stake in M1 in 2005.

Non-voice service continues to be a key source of growth for M1, with non-voice revenue contributing 20% of average revenue per user. Much of this growth comes from data services, which saw revenue increase by 14% in 2005. About 30% of the postpaid customer base accesses MiWorld, our mobile portal, at least once a month using 2.5G. This augurs well for the future of 3G services which M1 commercially launched in February 2005, the first mobile operator in Singapore to do so. Although the take up of 3G is still in its infancy and there was no significant 3G revenue in 2005, we believe this represents the start of the transition into a new era of mobile communications. This is not a transition that will happen overnight, as we have all along emphasised. It will be an evolutionary process as customers progressively upgrade their handsets to 3G; more relevant and interesting content and services are developed; and customers get acquainted with the possibilities offered by 3G. Over time, more and more customers will use the device in every pocket and handbag not just as a communication tool, but also as a medium of information and entertainment.

As part of this drive, during the year, M1 worked with partners to develop local content for delivery via 3G, including Asia’s first Chinese 3G drama and first English 3G thriller drama, as well as to showcase videos made by young filmmakers from local tertiary institutions and user-created content. Increasingly, content providers, including global brand names, are recognising the significance of the mobile phone as a means to reach their target audience. Progressively, M1 will build up the main content pillars of movies, music and sports adapted to a mobile lifestyle for the consumer market.

A further area of growth lies in the enterprise segment. In the mobile voice market, this has not been a large segment for M1 to date. But increasing innovation and faster network speeds, especially with 3G, will afford new opportunities for providing data products and services, and we are focusing greater resource on growing this customer segment. We will also leverage our partnership with Vodafone to draw on a suite of business solutions to address the enterprise market.

Internally the Company has undergone a re-organisation to better align resources to strategic priorities, particularly with regard to developing the enterprise market and strategic alliances. Given our proven strengths and track record, and our ability to adapt quickly to change, I believe we are well positioned to meet these new opportunities and challenges.

In the spirit of 1 life. live it. I would like to highlight other aspects of M1’s corporate life, beyond the operating and financial performance. For the third time running in Singapore, M1 was the presenting sponsor for the Cirque du Soleil’s magical and inspiring performance of “Quidam”. 2005 also saw the successful debut of the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival, by The Necessary Stage, an event which has been lauded for making a significant impact on the arts scene in Singapore. We are honoured to have been recognised for this and other involvement in the arts with the Distinguished Patron of the Arts Award. As part of our community involvement, M1 also actively supported a number of charitable causes, with particular focus on youth at risk and children with chronic illnesses. As well as direct corporate contributions and staff-led fundraising activities, many M1 staff offered their hearts and time as active volunteers, organising and participating in monthly activities, such as movie screenings, outings, birthday parties and Christmas carnival, with the beneficiary organisations.

In closing, I would like to extend my deepest appreciation to all M1 staff for their hard work and dedication to M1, and I look forward to working together to meet our goals and objectives for the coming year.