Telecoms giant Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) is planning to make more acquisitions of high-tech companies, as it aims to become a catch-all multimedia and communications technology group.
Speaking at an event in Jerusalem, Allen Lew, the chief…
Telecoms giant Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) is planning to make more acquisitions of high-tech companies, as it aims to become a catch-all multimedia and communications technology group.
Speaking at an event in Jerusalem, Allen Lew, the chief executive of SingTel’s digital life unit, was quoted saying by Reuters that Israel, in particular, is an important part of the company’s strategy to seize opportunities in various industries. These include social networks, mobile advertising and smartphones applications.
Specifically, SingTel is interested in investing in start-ups and has a S$200m (US$162.6m) venture capital fund for that purpose, he added.
This strategy is in line with the company’s acquisition of Amobee, a US/Israel-based provider of mobile advertising services to operators, publishers and advertisers, for US$321m in early March.
At the time, the Singaporean telco said the transaction was part of a wider strategy to gain momentum in the mobile content industry in face of growing competition from the likes of Apple and Google.
The aim is to “capture emerging opportunities in a new era, as customer usage behaviours and preferences evolve rapidly with the proliferation of new devices, content and technology,” it stated.
When announcing the Amobee purchase, SingTel also said it would reorganise its business structure into three units: consumer, digital services and ICT.
Several operators in Asia, particularly in Japan and South Korea have been looking to diversify away from the saturated telecoms sector in order to continue growing.
