Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel), South-East Asia's biggest phone company, said Tuesday that net profit for its third quarter rose 24 percent from a year ago on the back of steady growth in its home market and Australia.

Net profit for the three months through Dec 31 reached 991 million Singapore dollars ($697 million), up from 799 million Singapore dollars a year earlier, SingTel said.

Group revenue grew 20.2 percent from the third quarter of 2008 to 4.45 billion Singapore dollars.

'The Singapore and Australia businesses stood out for their exceptional performance in mobile under highly competitive market conditions,' SingTel chief executive Chua Sock Koong said.

Business was boosted by a stronger Australian dollar, SingTel said, as the Australian currency appreciated 27 percent against the Singapore dollar in the quarter compared with a year earlier.

However, revenue growth in Singapore and Australia had been affected by 'cautious corporate telecom spending and demand for business-related services', it said.

SingTel has a wholly owned unit, Optus, in Australia and six regional mobile associates - India's Bharti, Indonesia's Telkomsel, Globe in the Philippines, Advanced Info Service in Thailand, Pakistan's Warid and Pacific Bangladesh.

Pre-tax profit from all six mobile associates grew 21.3 percent year-on-year to 560 million Singapore dollars in the third quarter, SingTel said.

On Tuesday, SingTel reported that its mobile customer base in the Asia-Pacific expanded to 285 million by the end of December, up 52 million, or 23 percent, compared with a year ago.