The manager of NetLink NBN Trust announced that its distribution per unit (DPU) for FY2022 ended March came in at 5.13 cents, some 1.0% higher than 5.08 cents a year ago. Distributions attributable for FY2022 was similarly 1.0% higher y-o-y at $199.9 million.
Revenue for the period came in at $377.6 million, a slight 2.5% increase from $368.5 million last year, mainly due to higher residential, non-building address points (NBAP) & segment connections revenue, installation-related revenue and ancillary project revenue. This was partially offset mainly by lower central office revenue.
Residential connections remained the key driver of the NetLink’s revenue, contributing to 63.8% of total revenue. Residential connections revenue increased by $2.8 million to $240.7 million as a result of a higher number of connections. As at Mar 31, there were 1,464,217 connections as compared to 1,446,784 in the same period last year, representing a slight 1.2% y-o-y increase.
NBAP and segment connections revenue increased by 46.4% y-o-y because of higher demand for point-to-point connections and central office-diversity connections to support mobile network rollout and other projects requiring high resiliency.
Installation-related revenue was up $2.7 million, mainly due to higher residential service activations and non-residential termination point installation orders. Higher ancillary project revenue of S$1.3 million was due to more projects being completed during the period, as compared to the year before which was affected by stoppages in construction work nationwide.
Central office revenue in FY2022 decreased by $1.8 million mainly due to spaces surrendered by the main lessee in NetLink’s seven central offices and reduction in rental rates effective from September 2021.
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Total expenses also increased by 2.4% y-o-y at $293.7 million from $286.8 million.
As at end March, the trust’s cash and cash equivalents stood at $149.8 million.
Tong Yew Heng, CEO of the trustee-manager says: “As the COVID-19 situation stabilises, we are well-positioned to work with our industry partners in the coming years to support Singapore’s Smart Nation initiatives and 5G deployment nationwide. Looking ahead, we will continue to invest in our network to enhance our network capacity, flexibility and resilience to better serve our customers and end-users.”
Looking forward, NetLink is continuing to expand its network; collaborating with the requesting licensees and retail service providers to increase first-time user subscriptions; connecting low-income households to the Nationwide Broadband Network; improving presence at data centres; investing in a new central office in Singapore; as well as exploring opportunities to invest in telecommunication infrastructure businesses overseas.
NetLink is currently undergoing the review of NetLink Trust’s services (including prices) offered under its interconnection offer with the IMDA. The regulatory review is expected to be completed by early 2023.
Units in NetLink closed at 98 cents on May 17.
Photo: stock
