We have relaunched: What's new at ZDNet Asia?

Time dotCom denies talks with SingTel

Summary

Time dotCom has clarified that it is not in talks with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd on any strategic partnerships, the former said in a statement to the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange today.

Events

Microsoft MSDN/Developer Event
25 Mar 2010

One Marina Boulevard, Microsoft Singapore

IT Architect Regional Conference Singapore 2010
20 - 21 Apr 2010

Singapore Management University, Singapore

The Internet Show 2010
21-22 Apr 2010

Suntec Singapore

SINGAPORE--Time dotCom has clarified that it is not in talks with Singapore Telecommunications Ltd on any strategic partnerships, the former said in a statement to the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange today.

The Business Times had earlier quoted a source at Time dotCom's parent Renong Bhd as saying, "The talks have been on and off...they are very long-winded."

"Pursuant to the Share Sale Arrangement with Khazanah Nasional Bhd (dated July 8, 2000), we remain committed to seek a strategic partner that can add value to our telecommunications business in terms of management, international business, marketing, product and services plus other technical expertise," Time dotCom said in the statement.

SingTel failed in its bid to invest in Time dotCom last year. The Malaysian telco operates the nation's largest fiber-optic network and it was this 5,200km network that attracted the investment bid from SingTel. However, the deal was quashed for political reasons.

Instead, the Malaysian government investment arm Khazanah Nasional Bhd took a 30 percent stake in Time dotCom, on condition that the telco find a foreign "strategic partner" to take over 15 percent of the company by July this year.

Since that failed attempt to gain a foothold in Malaysia last May, several things have happened to put SingTel back in the picture. There was the woeful Time dotCom IPO in March, which saw the counter close at RM2.43 after the first day of trading, down from its RM3.30 offer price. The company's IPO of 572 million shares were subscribed by only 25 percent upon balloting.

The July deadline for finding a strategic partner is also looming, with no candidates in sight.

On the other side of the picture, the Singapore government has said that it will give up its share in SingTel, so as to remove the perception that the telco is government-controlled.

SingTel has cut deals with India's Bharti Group, Thailand's Advanced Info Service and Globe Telecom of the Philippines. It is also in the process of making a takeover offer for Australian telco Cable & Wireless Optus Ltd that could be worth A$20 billion (US$9.9 billion). A deal in Malaysia would be another step in its plans to go regional.

Yesterday, SingTel claimed that Cable & Wireless Optus Ltd's independent directors "intend to accept" its cash-and-share A$14.1 billion acquisition bid.

Talkback

Add your opinion

In order to post a comment, you need to be registered. (Sign In or register below)

Post your comment
Transform your business interactions with real-time voice, video and telepresence solutions.
Tech Vendor: Cisco

ZDNet Asia Live

Found this great little deal calculator http://www.zdnetasia.com/downloa...

4 hours 50 minutes ago by winstoncranford on topsy

RT @mistertechblog: I wrote about Nexus One and Touchdown, desktop dock, Bluetooth/USB tethering, ebooks here: http://bit.ly/bRdzx0

11 hours 2 minutes ago by yklee13 on topsy

Read my blog post on getting the most from your Nexus One: http://www.zdnetasia.com/blogs/m...

Data Centre Operator (Fresh Graduates Welcome to Apply) in ... http://bit.ly/bagYuu

11 hours 32 minutes ago by intmasterfeed on topsy

#Cisco #Cloud Cloud on ZDNet Asia: Aussie university joins Cisco cloud ยท Early-adopter criminals embrace cloud... http://bit.ly/d93C8S #TCN

12 hours 34 minutes ago by thetechgang on topsy

www.3w.com.au has seen it's outsourced IT Contracting Business in Manila grow at 4 times the rate of its traditional Australian Based...

19 hours 13 minutes ago by brucemills on Companies' outsourcing spend to increase

RT @3wconsulting: Whitepaper from http://3W.com.au "Outsourcing Your IT Requirements to Philippines" now on @zdnetaustralia & @zdnetasia http://ow.ly/1oY9f

Whitepaper from http://3W.com.au "Outsourcing Your IT Requirements to Philippines" now on @zdnetaustralia & @zdnetasia http://ow.ly/1oYbA

Whitepaper from http://3W.com.au "Outsourcing Your IT Requirements to Philippines" now on @zdnetaustralia & @zdnetasia http://ow.ly/1oYbz

Zdnetasia.com Estimated Worth $178,365 USD. Daily Ad Revenue:$244 USD, Daily Views:81,445 Pages... - http://www.haplog.com/www.zdneta...

When I create an event, I click on an approximate time during the day when I want the event to occur, then I click "edit event detail...

1 day 42 minutes ago by bessellbrowne on Google Calendar gets 'smart' rescheduling

ipads break alott i had one it broke three times in the month i had it so i got rid of the damn thing id just go for the laptop Top Grade...

1 day 43 minutes ago by bessellbrowne on Report: 'Hundreds of thousands' of iPad preorders

There are a number of websites that still require Internet Explorer to view and IE for Mac Stinks (it is really ies4osx which is the Wind...

1 day 45 minutes ago by bessellbrowne on Microsoft: Only minor tweaks in Windows 7 SP1

The receivers don't transmit back to the satellite. Unless there is a phone line attached to the receiver, they don't have any wa...

1 day 48 minutes ago by bessellbrowne on Apple to join the geolocation craze?

"Lead Cognos BI Developer Insurance - Jobs - ZDNet Asia" http://bit.ly/bRcxOG

1 day 43 minutes ago by rhrcognos on topsy

whatever little understanding I have we 'll only progress toward end of the world if we use HPCs to lenthen life of human being. Huma...

2 days 54 minutes ago by abhi32002@gmail.com on High computing promises elixir of life

Thanks for the knowledgeable article on SDDs. Allas...when all this reasearch will happen in Indian Universities. Hope the new bill on Fo...

2 days 7 minutes ago by abhi32002@gmail.com on APAC HPC users eye solid-state drives

It was a good article. This brings a good opportunity for Indian IT firms to come up with new solutions in this field. HPC can become a b...

2 days 26 minutes ago by abhi32002@gmail.com on High computing most-wanted job in Asia

COL KR DHARMADHIKARY(RETD) its very late to reply the link, but if it is still alive and looking for opportunity, i would like to know th...

2 days 23 minutes ago by deb021280 on Education takes off in rural India, helped by PCs

It was just a matter of time until google was marginalised anyway. I'm afraid this will be forgotten in China very quickly. Still, it...

2 days 28 minutes ago by robinsmith on Report: Google to leave China on April 10

High performance computing (HPC) most-wanted job in Asia http://bit.ly/9vFC3i (via @zdnetasia) #singapore

He doesn't care if her shoes are of glass, All he wants to see is a huge rack and nice a*s. Sleeping beauty's not awoken by true ...

2 days 57 minutes ago by warlowdavies on One pair of 3D glasses to rule them all

RT @zdnetasia: EMC COO, Pat Gelsinger, on bridging gaps in the organization and its cloud ambitions in Asia. (cont) http://tl.gd/i5jjd

EMC COO, Pat Gelsinger, on bridging gaps in the organization and its cloud ambitions in Asia. http://bit.ly/9etOZW

Asian SMBs need to pay more attention to disaster recovery planning http://bit.ly/bDet08 via @zdnetasia

Asian SMBs need to pay more attention to disaster recovery planning http://bit.ly/bDet08

[TECH] URL Shorteners slow Web redirection. - http://bit.ly/bySnWK @zdnetasia

URL shorteners are great but they can slow web redirection & you pray it would never go down http://bit.ly/bySnWK via @zdnetasia

URL shorteners slow Web redirection. http://bit.ly/bySnWK

Chinese agencies cry foul over Google. http://bit.ly/by6rwV

all of sg's isps have been practising compulsory invisible proxy for all home subscribers at their backend since many years back alre...

3 days 7 minutes ago by melvinchia on Web filters mean bad news for business

it is not to good for china.
Proactol

3 days 52 minutes ago by nathonastle on Chinese ad partners beg Google for information

Very good explanation of JMX

4 days 57 minutes ago by Babith B on Managing applications with JMX

The reaction to a report issued Tuesday by Flurry Analytics managed to completely overlook some interesting news--the Android-based Motorola Droid outsold the original iPhone over the same period of time following their respective launches--to focus instead on the sales numbers for the Nexus One.

4 days 421246 seconds ago by lonemavericks on diggs

Another ZTE story....

4 days 2 minutes ago by Moderate Your Greed on Philippines opens bid for final 3G license