Service revenue rose 3% year-on-year (y-o-y) to $976.1 million, lifted by broadband, enterprise and cybersecurity gains, while total revenue increased 2.2% to $1.1 billion. Ebitda fell 9.1% to $203.3 million, with service ebitda margins narrowing to 20% from 22.3% on higher operating expenses, which management said will taper in the second half.
StarHub's chief financial officer Jacky Lo says the balance sheet "remains strong", putting the company in "a good position to navigate the evolving landscape" while sustaining shareholder returns and funding M&A. "We expect full-year free cash flow to be temporarily distorted by the spectrum payments, but we anticipate returning to positive free cash flow in FY2026. We are actively managing our financing cost and maintaining strong liquidity for the borrowings maturing at the end of 2025," he says.
As of the end of June, cash and bank balances stood at $487.1 million, with net debt to ebitda at 1.92 times. The telco generated $117 million in operating cash flow, with free cash flow of $16 million excluding the spectrum payment in 1HFY2025.
StarHub declared an interim dividend of 3 cents per share and reiterated a full-year payout of at least 6 cents, alongside a $50 million share buyback programme. This underscores the company's commitment to "deliver long-term shareholder value while continuing to invest in growth levers", says Lo.
See also: StarHub rolls out ScamSafe to help block scam calls and SMSes
Consumer gains amid price wars
StarHub's multi-brand, multi-segment strategy continued to drive growth for its consumer business. Mobile subscribers climbed 8.2% to 2.14 million in the first half of 2025, led by SIM-only plans from giga! and eight. Mobile revenue, however, fell 5.4% to $274.1 million, hurt by weaker roaming, IDD, value-added service income, and excess data usage revenues.
"Price competition has been intense and continues to ramp up with a combination of lower monthly fees, free months offered by some players, and increasing inclusions, particularly around roaming. Notably, we've also seen the market leader (or Singtel) significantly increase price aggression during the quarter, which has disrupted the market," says Matt Williams, StarHub's chief of Consumer Business Group.
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He adds that industry consolidation has begun with Simba Telecom's Aug 11 announcement of its acquisition of M1, and expects it "to continue and also to accelerate as price competition continues, with the economics of the smaller players becoming unsustainable."
To navigate this environment, StarHub will continue pushing ahead with its multi-brand, multi-segment strategy. "We'll continue to compete fully and be as aggressive as required in the market conditions, particularly over the second half of this year. Eight is growing very strongly and has very high appeal to Singaporean consumers seeking low prices, while the StarHub brand will continue to focus on quality and added benefits such as increased roaming allowances," says Williams.
StarHub's CEO Nikhil Eapen says the Simba–M1 consolidation will ultimately benefit the sector. "There will be an interim period between signing and integration, where there will continue to be, in our view, fairly aggressive market activity. So, our strategy is to continue to be aggressive. We think that will be the best way to bring about, ultimately, market stabilisation and recovery."
Broadband expansion
StarHub's broadband revenue rose 4.4% y-o-y to $128.3 million, supported by higher ARPU from proactive migration to higher bandwidth UltraSpeed plans and bundled packages.
To further extend its lead in the broadband space, StarHub completed its $105.2 million purchase of the remaining 49.9% stake in MyRepublic's broadband business on Aug 12. Williams says the acquisition builds on StarHub's existing relationship with MyRepublic and fits squarely within its multi-segment, multi-brand strategy.
"[We value how MyRepublic] serves a very specific segment of digitally savvy consumers and gamers, and we want to continue with that. It has also been growing in this quite challenging market, so we see a lot of potential to continue with [its differentiation] and for us to combine our capabilities," he says.
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He adds that MyRepublic customers can expect "everything they get now" plus additional benefits where relevant, such as access to the Premier League just like StarHub customers.
Enterprise leads growth
StarHub's growth in 1HFY2025 was led by stronger performance from the enterprise business segment, mainly due to higher project completions. Regional enterprise business grew 6.8% y-o-y to $296.1 million, with managed services up 12.8% to $158.7 million and cybersecurity surging 20.1% to $178.2 million.
Growth is underpinned by StarHub's modern digital infrastructure platform, which is driving recurring revenue and creating opportunities for new services in Singapore and the region, shares Tan Kit Yong, the company's head of enterprise business group. Embedded with a hybrid multi-cloud architecture and managed services, the platform helps position StarHub as a platform player instead of a traditional reseller and systems integrator.
StarHub believes this modular platform-based approach delivers flexibility, agility and reduces total cost of ownership. Tan shares that this has resulted in a 10% y-o-y increase in the order book.
The company's integration of its Singapore and Malaysia operations has also begun yielding results, with an expanding opportunity pipeline and cross-border customer wins. StarHub is also working with Trends Group to expand its presence in the Philippines, following a memorandum of understanding signed in May 2025. The partnership aims to build offshore capabilities to address Singapore's resource constraints and rising costs, enabling the company to scale "in a standardised manner" and grow with clients, says Tan.
Cybersecurity remains one of the fastest-growing segments, with Tan noting that there is strong client interest in embedding security capabilities. "We intend to leverage our modern digital infrastructure platform to have security embedded by design. [Doing so] can help our enterprise clients lower the cost of cybersecurity, compliance and threats, and at the same time, make their organisations more resilient," he says.
Building on this approach, StarHub will continue to deepen investments in its hybrid multi-cloud digital infrastructure, enabling AI-native, cloud-native cybersecurity tools to defend critical systems, customer data, and enterprise environments at scale. This will help "meet the complex cyber needs of our customers while contributing to national cyber resilience efforts," says Eapen.
Cost optimisation strategy
To reinforce long-term resilience, StarHub has expanded its cost optimisation efforts through a multi-year strategic cost management programme aimed at achieving "minimum efficient scale," says Lo. The goal is to balance efficiency, scalability, and profitability, and "build a stronger and more sustainable company for the long term."
The initiative marks "a step change" from past approaches. While legacy decommissioning remains a focus, the programme now covers three other pillars: network automation, systems re-architecture, and business simplification.
On network automation, StarHub is digitising and streamlining over 20 core network functions, upgrading infrastructure, automating processes, and embedding cybersecurity into the network. Systems re-architecture focuses on consolidating fragmented IT tools and strengthening in-house capabilities for greater control and efficiency.
Business simplification efforts include rationalising product and brand portfolios, transforming the operating model, streamlining offerings, and improving omnichannel experiences to deliver a better customer experience with lower complexity and cost.
Lo says the cost management programme is "highly targeted," focusing on the largest and most structurally inefficient cost buckets, or areas where complexity and under-investment have eroded returns and negatively impacted service quality. "This is not just a cost-out exercise. It's about building the right operating foundation for the future — a more agile StarHub, a stronger competitor in both the premium and value segments, one that's set up to grow profitability and deliver long-term shareholder value," he says.
To maintain competitive agility, StarHub will retain strategic flexibility to adopt a more aggressive commercial stance in 2HFY2025. It has revised its full-year ebitda forecast from "stable year-on-year" to 88% to 92% of FY2024 ebitda, excluding a non-recurring provision disclosed under cost of sales.
According to StarHub, the revision reflects a deliberate decision to preserve competitiveness and defend market share while continuing to invest in long-term growth drivers.
