Leading south Asian telecom player, Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (ST) ahs reported a fall of 1.2 percent in net profit due o smaller contribution from its associates overseas.

The island nation based company said that it is committed to increasing its stakes in companies aboard. SingTel's international associates include Bharti Airtel in India, PT Telekomunikasi Selular in Indonesia and Advanced Info Service Pcl in Thailand. The contribution from associates to earnings fell 12 percent from a year earlier to S$471 million.

"If stakes are available... we would definitely be willing to look at it. It is our long-term intent to raise our stake in our associates," said Chua Sock Koong, chief executive.

The company has a a 32.3 percent stake in Bharti, which surprisingly reported a fall in traffic carried on its mobile networks in the third quarter of the year. The company announced last week that the total number of minutes carried on its mobile network fell 1.9% in the quarter. It also reported a 2 per cent decline in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) in its mobile service unit.

Bharti said that the decline is manly due to seasonal trends. The growth has been lower earlier in the year and the telecom companies see a slowdown during monsoons. The shares of the telecom major did not take a hit and increased 2 per cent in the same period.

Shares in SingTel were trading 0.6 percent down on Thursday.