But StarHub's key shareholder has the final say.
A lot was thinking whether StarHub has any intention to
acquire M1, as the smallest telco's three biggest shareholders are reviewing
their stakes. But according to Maybank KimEng, StarHub's management was
steadfast in its position not to acquire or merge with the other telco.
However, Starhub said its key shareholder, ST Telemedia,
which owns 56% of its shares, will ultimately decide, given Temasek’s influence
over both StarHub and M1.
"ST Telemedia is wholly-owned by Temasek, which is also
a major shareholder of M1’s shareholders Keppel T&T and SPH. These two
companies hold a combined 32.4% of M1 while Axiata owns 28.3%," Maybank
KimEng said.
For its part, StarHub’s management prefers to collaborate
with M1. It has already started to explore capex reduction through network
sharing with M1, which could start to see cost savings within the next two
years.
"Telcos invest in infrastructure to create barriers of
entry, but if there is no need to duplicate certain parts of it, then there is
scope for cost savings. M1 and StarHub use the same network equipment
suppliers, Huawei and Nokia," Maybank KimEng noted.
Meanwhile, StarHub stated that should another telco acquire
M1, they may have to give up certain spectrum as the regulator will not permit
hoarding of unused spectrum. This could mean that if TPG was to acquire M1, it
will likely have to give up the 60MHz of spectrum that it recently paid $105m
for.
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