National carrier Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) has sold its entire 19.6 per cent stake in Norwegian mobile phone operator NetCom ASA in order to focus on its investments in the Asia-Pacific region, the company announced on Tuesday.
SingTel has sold its holding in NetCom to Danish company Tele Danmark A/S for 2.68 billion kroner ($A590 million) and plans to use the funds for expansion or extra investments in the Asia-Pacific region, company officials said on Tuesday. SingTel's initial investment in NetCom was $S69.5 million ($A64 million), SingTel officials said.
The Singaporean carrier's only remaining investment in Europe is in Belgian carrier Belgacom, whose strong performance last year earned $264 million ($A242 million) in profits for SingTel.
In Asia, SingTel has a major stake in Philippines carrier Globe Telecom, an 18.6 per cent stake in Thailand's largest cellular operator Advanced Info Service, and a share in Vietnam's Call-Link mobile phone operation.
SingTel sold its stake in Australian carrier AAPT for $140 million in April, but at the same time announced a broadening of its strategic cooperation with Australia's largest carrier, Telstra, and Japan's Kokusai Denshin Denwa (KDD).