Singapore Telecommunications Ltd acquired 100 percent of Optus, Australia's number two telecoms operator, from Britain's Cable & Wireless Plc in October for US$9 billion. Optus will be consolidated in the second half.

The integration of Optus was on course, SingTel said.

"We estimate that cash savings of S$300 million (US$165 million) can be achieved over the next 18 months, with most of it in the next financial year," it said in a statement.

SingTel said about 80 percent of the savings would come from a reduction in capital expenditure, mainly through the optimisation of the group's international cable networks and better prices from equipment vendors.

It said Optus recorded an eight percent rise in operating revenue in the six months to September 30. Retail sales growth reached 10 percent.

"This strong revenue growth is double the growth of the telecoms sector and quadruple the Australian economy as a whole," it said without giving dollar figures.

Optus's mobile operations revenue grew by 13 percent and its subscriber base grew 26 percent. It now has 3.9 million mobile customers, the statement said.

"Optus Business showed strong performance, growing revenue by nine percent to A$935 million. This includes a 35 percent growth in revenue from data and IP services which now accounts for 49 percent of the division's revenue," it said.

Consumer and multimedia's broadband bundled product customers increased by 56 percent and now make up 43 percent of Optus's customer base, SingTel added.

SingTel Optus shares closed three cents lower at A$1.74 before the results announcement.

SingTel shares were up three cents at S$1.68 after its first-half net profit dropped 8.7 percent but still came in at the higher end of expectations, boosted by a strong contribution from its data services division.

Asia's sixth-largest telecoms group posted a net profit of S$1.16 billion (US$639 million) for the six months to September 30 versus S$1.27 billion in the first half of last year.