Singapore/New Delhi: Singapore’s leading telecom firm SingTel on Wednesday said contribution of Bharti Airtel, in which the company holds nearly 32% stake, to its profit rose by 26% to 236 million Singapore dollars (around $170 million) for the July-September quarter.

SingTel posted a profit of 956 million Singapore dollars for the quarter ended September, a growth 10.1% compared to the same period last year.

“The Group’s share of pre-tax contribution from Bharti increased 26% to 236 million Singapore dollars. The growth was also due to lower fair value losses on mark-to- market valuation on its foreign currency denominated liabilities,” SingTel said in a statement.

SingTel said Bharti Airtel added 33 million customers during the quarter to take the total number of subscriber base to 110.5 million as on 30 September 2009.

Although, operating revenue growth slowed to 9% and revenue per user also dropped as a result of “intense competition” and new players entering Indian mobile market.

SingTel’s consolidated revenue rose to 4.10 billion Singapore dollars in the July to September quarter of 2009 from 3.89 billion Singapore dollars in the year-ago period.

The group’s overall good result is led by robust performance in its Singapore and Australia businesses and strong earnings recovery by Telkomsel, which provides cellular services in Indonesia.