2010 was an exciting and busy year for M1, and I am pleased to report that we delivered growth in revenue and net profit. We achieved another major milestone during the year with the launch of fixed broadband services on the NGNBN, which opened up a whole new world of connectivity for homes and businesses, as well as growth opportunities for M1. We are well positioned to capitalise on these opportunities and deliver sustainable, long-term growth for the Company.

Results
Operating revenue increased 25.3% to S$979.2 million, driven mainly by a surge in the sale of smartphones. Service revenue increased 4.6% to $732.9 million as a result of growth in both mobile telecommunications and fixed revenues. For mobile telecommunications, the higher revenue was driven by higher customer base, as well as a pick-up in roaming activities. With increased penetration of smartphones and mobile broadband devices, mobile data usage continued to grow and non-voice services as a percentage of service revenue increased to 31.9%, compared to 26.0% a year ago. Fixed revenue increased 271.2% to S$24.5 million as a result of growth in fixed services customers in both the residential and corporate segments. International call revenue remained stable at S$129.0 million, amidst a highly competitive market. Net profit after tax increased 4.5% to $157.1 million, with margin on service revenue remaining stable at 21.4%. The Group’s balance sheet remained healthy, with net debt-to-EBITDA at 1.0 time as at end-2010.

Operational highlights
Our transition to a full-service operator progressed as planned - thanks to the hard work and commitment of all at M1.

In April, we announced the change of the Company’s name from MobileOne Ltd to M1 Limited with a highly visible re-branding campaign. Featuring a refreshed logo, the new name reflects our move away from pure mobile centric operator, and at the same time, retains what is a highly established and recognised brand in Singapore.

Our efforts in gearing up the Group to be operationally ready for the NGNBN, which started more than a year ago, culminated with us being the first operator to offer fibre broadband services to both residential and corporate customers in September. Today, we offer a wide range of fibre service plans with speeds ranging from 25 Mbps to 1 Gbps, including fixed voice and other value added services for residential homes. For the corporate customers, we offer managed and data centre services, as well as cloud computing services. In addition, our services are further differentiated by mFix, Singapore’s first remote technical support service for computers and smartphones.

In November, we took a first step towards quad-play with the launch of 1box, a simple plug-and-play platform for customers to access internet content on TV, as well as, a range of on-demand services. Customers can now enjoy videos on popular websites such as YouTube and Discovery Channel, and stay in touch with family and friends on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, all on their TVs. Regulatory and market developments are challenging the structure of traditional pay TV model, and opening up new opportunities for M1. These include the Government’s initiatives on open access IPTV infrastructure and implementation of mandatory cross carriage of exclusive content, as well as the availability of connected TVs which offer direct internet access and content on TV.

For our core mobile business, we continued to strive for excellence by keeping our focus on customer service, value, innovation and network quality. During the year, we added 153,000 customers and regained mobile market share, reversing the trend of previous years. As at end December 2010, our total customer base stood at 1.9 million. We continued to invest in our networks to ensure that we maintain our technology edge, as well as to enhance customer experience and improve efficiency. During the year, we commenced modernisation of our 2G network and trialled Long Term Evolution (LTE) at speeds of up to 100Mbps. We also acquired an additional 5MHz of 3G spectrum in November, which will allow us to support our growing customer base. Phase 1 of our backhaul transmission network project was completed during the year and this has generated significant cost savings. We expect to complete Phase 2 of the project in the first half of 2011.

In the area of customer service, we completed training of all our staff as part of our customer centric initiative to achieve service excellence at all touch points. I am pleased to report that M1 was the only telecommunications company in Singapore to achieve a year-on-year improvement in the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSISG¹) for 2010.

1	The CSISG is commissioned by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) and managed by the Institute of Service Excellence (ISES) at Singapore Management University

Outlook
Even as we entered 2011 in a good position to benefit from further developments in the industry, we remain committed to putting our customers first by providing excellent service and great experiences, guided by our mission statement to brighten lives by linking anyone and anything; anytime, anywhere.

The mobile segment will remain core and we will continue to excel in this area. Our continued focus on innovations and customer service will involve investing in, among other things, LTE for our network and further enhancement to our Customer Experience Management system. There is no doubt that mobile data traffic will continue to grow year-on-year, and the introduction of LTE, which is designed for more efficient carriage of data, will offer customers a much better surfing experience and at the same time, increase our cost efficiency, compared to today’s mobile technology.

In the fixed segment, we will continue to enhance our service offerings to both residential and corporate customers. The progressive rollout of the NGNBN will allow us to market our fibre services to an increasing pool of customers throughout the year. Apart from cost savings, residential customers will benefit from the unsurpassed broadband speeds and enriched digital experience, while corporate customers can look forward to enhanced efficiency and capabilities to help drive business growth.

Community
We continued to actively participate in the community through our Corporate Responsibility programme that maintained our traditional focus on the arts, sports and children’s causes in Singapore.

The M1 Singapore Fringe Festival continued to enliven the arts scene with its sixth edition at the beginning of the year. We view our long-term association with the event as a win-win partnership. As sponsor, we derive positive association with our brand and increased consumer awareness. More importantly, we believe the festival fills a gap in the local arts scene. With long-term sponsorship, the festival is able to grow and gain better outreach each year. For 2011, we will look to extending our long-term sponsorships programme to other forms of arts to nurture talents and promote the appreciation and enjoyment of arts.

For the less privileged, we engaged employees and business partners in two successful fund-raising events during the year for the benefit of our adopted children’s charities, such as the Children’s Cancer Foundation and the Singapore Children’s Society. Dedicated staff volunteers from our SunCare Club also organised various social activities throughout the year to bring cheer to the children from these adopted charities.

Appreciation
In closing, I would like to convey my deep appreciation to our Board of Directors for their continued guidance and support, and fellow colleagues for their commitment and dedication during the year. I also want to express my gratitude to our shareholders, customers and business partners for the confidence you have placed in M1. I look forward to working together to bring M1 into the next phase of growth.