The telecommunications sector is undergoing rapid change, driven by accelerating technology adoption, rising digitalisation demands and an industry-wide push for cost discipline. To stay competitive, operators must anchor their strategies around a clear vision.

StarHub has successfully executed this vision, yielding measurable results. It reported service revenue of $976.1 million and total revenue of $1.1 billion for 1HFY2025, registering 3.0% and 2.2% y-o-y growth. Growth drivers included a 4.4% increase in broadband revenue, as more customers upgraded their plans, a 6.8% expansion in regional enterprise business due to partnerships taking hold, and a 20.1% surge in cybersecurity services amid rising demand.

StarHub’s disciplined execution has not gone unnoticed. It won The Edge Singapore’s Billion Dollar Club 2025 award for weighted return on equity (ROE) over three years in the Communication Services category, recognising its ability to deliver consistent returns even amid sector-wide headwinds.

Price competition has long shaped the market, but sustainable growth now depends on structural shifts that drive scale, efficiency and differentiation. This is why StarHub’s strategy centres on delivering real value through innovation, reliable service, and customer experience.

StarHub’s strategy is anchored on four pillars: consumer, enterprise, cybersecurity and cost optimisation. This reflects both the industry’s challenges and its own deliberate, focused approach to creating long-term value. By strengthening its core in connectivity, entertainment and digital solutions while streamlining operations for efficiency, StarHub is delivering sustainable long-term value for both shareholders and customers, anchored in reliable connectivity, cyber resilience, and human-centric technology.

Enterprise solutions lead growth agenda

See also: A rejuvenated Singapore market, a reset for The Edge Singapore

mute
The company’s next wave of growth will dig deeper into adjacent services, regional partnerships, and cost optimisation. However, careful sequencing and disciplined execution are key to sustaining momentum.

Enterprise services come first, particularly cybersecurity and AI-enabled cloud, where demand is strong and margins are sustainable. Cybersecurity now sits at the core of how StarHub protects customers and sustains trust. StarHub combines best-in-class partner technologies with its proprietary threat intelligence and secure-by-design solutions to deliver both cyber resilience and customer-centric outcomes. As a national telco and trusted enterprise partner, the company is deepening investments in advanced threat intelligence and AI-driven security operations.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is equally central to StarHub’s digital strategy, driving both operational efficiency and the reinvention of customer experience. Following the completion of the investment phase of Dare+ (its transformative IT and network modernisation programme), StarHub has transitioned its infrastructure to a hybrid multi-cloud environment, creating the foundation for AI-enabled capabilities.

Vast amounts of data are now transformed into actionable insights through StarHub’s data lake and Cloud Infinity platforms. Those insights power predictive and proactive services to enhance network reliability, accelerate issue resolutions, and tailor offers and content recommendations for relevant and timely customer engagement.

Strengthening core connectivity and entertainment

See also: From momentum to transformation: Building a relevant stock market

Alongside its enterprise momentum, StarHub continues to strengthen its consumer foundations in connectivity and entertainment through a dynamic multi-brand and multi-segment strategy.

In the mobile space, StarHub operates a portfolio of distinct brands designed to meet the evolving needs and lifestyles of today’s consumers, with the flagship StarHub brand delivering premium experiences, giga! appealing to digital natives, and Eight providing smart value for price-conscious customers.

It also strengthened its broadbrand portfolio after fully acquiring MyRepublic Broadband, securing 100% ownership along with the brand equity in Singapore and key operational assets. The move reinforces StarHub’s leadership in Singapore’s broadband market, enabling greater strategic alignment, service differentiation, and cross-product bundling. These smart bundles and tailored propositions help the company stay ahead of evolving entertainment preferences and rising global competition.

In the entertainment industry, StarHub is addressing streaming fragmentation by providing a unified viewing experience that leverages intelligent curation across multiple platforms. Its recent collaboration with Mediacorp brings StarHub TV+ content to digital streaming service mewatch, giving audiences one-stop access to premium content, from live sports like the Premier League to Asian dramas.

Flexible micro-packages and smart bundling enhance value and choice for consumers, while precision-targeted live TV ads offer new opportunities for brands to connect with their audience. Together, these efforts strengthen StarHub’s position as a trusted gateway to an increasingly crowded content landscape.

Disciplined regional growth

Regional partnerships form the next growth lever. StarHub’s Singapore-Malaysia integration and collaboration in the Philippines demonstrate how it extends reach without excessive balance-sheet risk.

Its regional strategy prioritises selective expansion where it can add differentiated value (particularly in digital infrastructure and cybersecurity) through collaboration rather than aggressive footprint expansion.

The company also maintains a disciplined approach to mergers and acquisitions (M&As), pursuing only earnings-accretive, synergy-driven opportunities adjacent to its core business. In fragmented sectors such as cybersecurity or managed services, M&A may be used to accelerate scale, but only where it deepens capabilities and supports StarHub’s strategic roadmap.

From cost discipline to shareholder value

The third lever is structural cost optimisation through a multi-year programme focused on legacy decommissioning, network automation, systems re-architecture, and business simplification.

StarHub treats optimisation as simplification, rather than subtraction. Removing duplication and legacy burdens empowers employees to focus on higher-value innovation, creating capacity for reinvestment and disciplined growth.

This approach goes beyond decommissioning legacy systems to transforming outdated work practices. By embracing automation, cloud-native architecture and platform optimisation, the company aims to create lasting productivity improvements. Savings from these efficiencies are reinvested into growth areas such as cybersecurity, 5G and AI, converting short-term margin gains into long-term competitiveness.

Discipline also guides how StarHub balances resilience and growth. Customer trust remains its foundation, built on secure and reliable networks. The company employs a portfolio-based investment strategy that safeguards its core infrastructure while leveraging operational efficiencies to fund new growth initiatives.

Similarly, that discipline extends to shareholder returns. The telco declared an interim dividend of 3 cents per ordinary share for 1HFY2025 and reiterated its outlook of at least 6 cents per share for FY2025, alongside an ongoing $50 million share buyback programme.

People-first culture

As StarHub marks its 25th anniversary, its people-first culture remains the foundation of its execution and resilience.

It views culture as a tangible driver of execution and long-term value creation. Its people-first approach — reflected in accessible upskilling programmes like Design Thinking and inclusive wellbeing initiatives — ensures StarHubbers can grow, contribute, and collaborate effectively. Boldness drives its pursuit of opportunities with conviction, while collaboration mobilises teams and partners efficiently.

The company will continue to build both technical capability and an adaptive mindset. Digital fluency, security-first thinking, and cloud-native skills are priorities, complemented by adaptability and a culture of continuous learning to keep the workforce future-ready.

Grounded in empathy, trust and boldness, this human-centric culture has driven StarHub’s evolution from a challenger telco into a purpose-led digital innovator. Its people-first ethos will remain the bedrock of future growth and transformation, as well as a defining trait of its standing as an employer of choice.