LOSSES in the fledgling cybersecurity business sent earnings tumbling at mainboard-listed telco StarHub in the first quarter, according to unaudited results released on Friday evening.
Although enterprise data and Internet revenue slipped, StarHub charted double-digit growth in managed services revenue, which it said"was largely contributed by higher demand for cloud, cryptographic and digital security solutions".Cybersecurity, though making up a relatively small share of turnover, posted a 41.4 per cent increase to S$26.4 million, helped by revenues from the D'Crypt unit and joint venture Ensign InfoSecurity. But the segment also posted losses of S$11.
The pay-TV subscriber base shrank again quarter-on-quarter to 394,000 customers, down from 449,000 in the year-ago period. The falling customer numbers pushed pay-TV service revenue down by 12.4 per cent to S$70.7 million for the three months. StarHub said in its outlook statement that its enterprise business, which also includes network solutions and cybersecurity services,"continues its growth with renewals for data centre, cloud and telco solutions for connectivity across key industry sectors".
StarHub added that service revenue is expected to range from a stable performance to a year-on-year decline of 2 per cent for the year.