Singtel (SGX: Z74) on 4 December 2025: Can Singapore Telecommunications Stock Keep Climbing After a 50% Rally?

Singapore Telecommunications Limited (Singtel, SGX: Z74) has quietly turned from “boring telco” into one of 2025’s hottest blue‑chip stories.

By late morning on 4 December 2025, Singtel shares were trading around S$4.70 on the Singapore Exchange, near decade highs and valuing the group at about S$78 billion. Over the past 12 months, the stock is up roughly 50%, and it delivered about 12.4% total return in November alone, handily beating the Straits Times Index. ^[1]

At the same time, investors are juggling a crowded newsflow: upgraded earnings guidance, a fatter interim dividend, massive data‑centre ambitions, a S$9 billion asset‑recycling programme, a fresh Optus outage in Australia, and a high‑profile downgrade from UBS.

Here’s a deep dive into what’s moving Singtel stock as of 4 December 2025, and how current forecasts and analyses frame the risk–reward from here.

Singtel share price snapshot: near highs after a huge 2025 run

Key numbers as of mid‑day 4 December 2025: ^[2]

Share price: ~S$4.70
Market cap: ~S$78.1 billion
1‑year performance: ~+50%
52‑week range: S$3.01 to S$4.92
Trailing EPS: ~S$0.37
Trailing P/E: ~12.8x
Dividend (trailing 12 months): ~S$0.17–0.18 per share, implying a yield around 3.6%–3.9% at today’s price

Monthly price data show just how dramatic the re‑rating has been: Singtel’s adjusted price was about S$2.95 in December 2024 versus S$4.71 so far in December 2025. ^[3]

Put simply, Singapore’s former “bond proxy” has been repriced as a growth‑plus‑income stock, driven by digital infrastructure, AI and capital recycling – and the market is now debating whether the good news is already baked in.

The freshest headlines (4 December 2025): Optus outages, data centres, and dividend growth

1. New Optus outage in Queensland keeps operational risk front and centre

On 4 December 2025, Reuters reported that Optus – Singtel’s Australian subsidiary – had fully restored National Broadband Network (nbn) services in Brisbane and parts of Queensland after a major outage. ^[4]

Key points:

The outage on Wednesday left almost 100,000 customers in Brisbane and southeast Queensland unable to dial “000”, Australia’s emergency number, due to an nbn disruption.
Some landline users were also unable to reach emergency services.
Media reports cited a network server failure as the cause; both Optus and Singtel have so far declined to comment publicly. ^[5]

This incident lands on top of a deadly 13‑hour outage on 18 September 2025 that disrupted emergency call services and has been linked to four deaths, prompting public outrage, regulatory investigations and political scrutiny in Australia. ^[6]

For Singtel shareholders, Optus is now a double‑edged sword: earnings are recovering, but every fresh outage reinforces reputational and regulatory risk.

2. Half‑year FY26 results: profit up 14% and guidance raised

On 12 November 2025, Singtel reported results for the first half of its FY26 (six months to 30 September 2025): ^[7]

Underlying net profit: S$1.35 billion, up 14% year‑on‑year, though slightly below consensus estimates.
Group net profit: S$3.40 billion, reflecting both operating growth and gains from asset recycling.
OpCo EBIT (excluding associates): up nearly 13% in the first half.
Optus operating earnings: up 27%, driven by mobile.
Regional associates (Bharti Airtel, Telkomsel, AIS, etc.) delivered a 12% increase in post‑tax contribution.

Crucially, management upgraded guidance:

Singtel now expects FY26 operating profit (EBIT) for its “OpCo” to grow in the high single‑digit to low double‑digit range, versus an earlier “high single‑digit” forecast. ^[8]
Its digital infrastructure arm Nxera is expected to achieve >20% annual EBITDA growth over the next four years, supported by a step‑up in data‑centre capacity. ^[9]

This is the fundamental engine behind much of the 2025 share‑price rally.

3. Bigger interim dividend – and more to come

Alongside H1 FY26 results, Singtel’s board declared an interim dividend of 8.2 Singapore cents per share, up 17% from 7.0 cents a year earlier. ^[10]

That 8.2 cents breaks down into:

6.4 cents core dividend, and
1.8 cents “value realisation dividend” linked to asset sales. TS2 Tech+1

According to the company’s dividend table and investor calendar:

The interim dividend is scheduled to be paid on 9 December 2025,
With an ex‑date of 20 November and record date of 21 November 2025. ^[11]

Singtel reiterates a policy to pay out 70%–90% of underlying net profit as ordinary dividends, supplemented by “value realisation” dividends funded by its asset‑recycling programme. ^[12]

At today’s price, the trailing yield in the high‑3% range is lower than many ASEAN telcos, but investors are clearly paying up for the growth story.

4. Asset recycling: Bharti Airtel stake sale and a S$9 billion war chest

A big part of that “value realisation” story is Singtel’s aggressive shedding of non‑core stakes.

On 7 November 2025, Singtel announced the sale of a 0.8% stake in Bharti Airtel via its unit Pastel, raising about S$1.5 billion (US$1.16 billion). ^[13]

Details from Reuters and The Smart Investor: ^[14]

Pastel sold 51 million Airtel shares at ₹2,030 each – roughly a 3.1% discount to the previous close.
The transaction is part of Singtel’s S$9 billion mid‑term asset‑recycling programme, aimed at funding digital‑infrastructure investments, reducing net debt and returning capital to shareholders.
Singtel now holds about 27.5% of Bharti Airtel, down from 31.4% in 2022. ^[15]
Including an earlier 1.2% Airtel stake sale in May, Singtel has raised about S$5.6 billion, already more than half of the S$9 billion target. ^[16]

The Bharti stake has been incredibly lucrative – Airtel shares have more than quadrupled since end‑2019 – allowing Singtel to realise sizeable gains and fund share buybacks and special dividends. ^[17]

Singtel has also been actively repurchasing its own shares under a mandate that allows up to 825.6 million shares to be bought back, with daily buy‑back notices continuing into December 2025. ^[18]

5. Data‑centre mega‑deal and green financing: Nxera steps into the AI age

The other big narrative is Singtel’s push to become a major regional data‑centre and AI‑infrastructure player through Nxera, its digital‑infrastructure arm.

Recent milestones:

Nxera secured a S$643 million five‑year green loan to fund DC Tuas, a 58MW “AI‑ready” data centre in Singapore, aligned with MAS’s Singapore‑Asia Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance. DC Tuas is scheduled to come online in 2026. ^[19]
In early November, Reuters reported that KKR and Singtel are in advanced talks to buy more than 80% of ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) for over S$5 billion, which would give them full ownership and mark one of Asia’s largest data‑centre deals. ^[20]

STT GDC operates over 100 data centres in more than 20 markets, so a successful deal would massively scale Singtel’s exposure to global AI‑driven compute demand – and, of course, its execution risk and capital needs. ^[21]

On top of that, Frost & Sullivan recently recognised:

Singtel’s RE:AI cloud service with a 2025 Southeast Asia Competitive Strategy Leadership award in GPU‑as‑a‑Service, highlighting its AI infrastructure capabilities; ^[22]
Singtel itself as 2025 Asia‑Pacific Company of the Year in the 5G Enterprise Industry, underscoring its positioning in enterprise 5G solutions. ^[23]

Put together, Singtel is selling older financial stakes and pouring capital into harder digital infrastructure – a big strategic pivot from classic telco to AI and cloud backbone.

6. UBS turns cautious after the rally

Not everyone is thrilled about the stock at these levels.

On 1 December 2025, UBS downgraded Singtel from “Buy” to “Neutral” while maintaining a target price of S$4.40. TS2 Tech

The UBS argument, as summarised by TechStock²: TS2 Tech

Singtel’s roughly 50% year‑to‑date rally already reflects optimism around asset recycling, dividend growth and the data‑centre story.
Forecast dividend yields of ~3.9% for FY26 and 4.2% for FY27 are below the ASEAN telco sector average (around 5%), leaving less “yield support” if sentiment turns.
After the re‑rating, future returns look more balanced: still solid fundamentals, but less obvious upside.

It’s a classic “great company, maybe fairly priced” stance.

Fundamentals check: earnings, profits and balance sheet

Singtel’s FY25 results (year ended 31 March 2025) and the latest half‑year update give a sense of where the business really stands.

From company filings and independent data: ^[24]

FY25 net profit: S$4.02 billion, boosted by exceptional gains. Underlying net profit was S$2.47 billion, up 9% year‑on‑year.
Trailing 12‑month revenue: ~S$14.1 billion, roughly flat versus the prior year.
Trailing net income: ~S$6.19 billion (including one‑offs).
Trailing P/E: ~12.8x, with a forward P/E over 22x, inflated by exceptional items rolling out of the base.

The growth engines in FY26 so far:

NCS (enterprise IT arm): operating profit jumped about 41%, driven by margin expansion and stronger project pipeline. ^[25]
Regional associates: contributed roughly S$915 million in post‑tax profit in H1 FY26, led by Bharti Airtel’s ~80% surge in contribution. ^[26]
Optus: despite its headline‑grabbing outages, delivered a 27% increase in operating earnings on the back of mobile revenue growth. ^[27]

Thanks largely to Airtel stake sales, Smart Investor estimates Singtel’s net debt has fallen to about S$8.7 billion, giving the group more balance‑sheet flexibility to fund data‑centre expansion and buybacks. ^[28]

Morningstar, meanwhile, raised its fair value for Singtel to S$4.36 after recent earnings, but that is still below the current market price – signalling a more cautious view on valuation than the market consensus. ^[29]

Dividends, buybacks and total‑return math

From an income‑investor perspective, Singtel’s profile today looks like this: ^[30]

Dividend policy: target payout of 70%–90% of underlying NPAT, plus additional “value realisation” dividends when asset sales allow.
Interim FY26 dividend: 8.2 cents (6.4 cents core + 1.8 cents value realisation), up 17% year‑on‑year.
Trailing 12‑month dividends: around 17–18.2 cents per share.
Yield at ~S$4.70: about 3.6%–3.9%.

On top of that, Singtel has earmarked roughly S$2 billion of its S$9 billion asset‑recycling programme for share buybacks, which – in theory – supports EPS growth and mitigates dilution from employee share plans. ^[31]

This is why many investors now view Singtel less as a pure income play and more as a hybrid of dividend, buyback and growth.

What are analysts forecasting for Singtel stock?

Different analyst platforms are broadly singing the same tune – modest upside from here, but nothing like the 2025 fireworks.

Recent consensus snapshots:

Investing.com:
- 17 analysts; overall rating “Buy” (15 Buy, 1 Hold, 1 Sell).
- Average 12‑month target: ~S$5.14, high S$6.20, low S$4.36. ^[32]
TradingView forecast page:
- Analysts’ average price target around S$5.21, with a max estimate near S$6.20 and a minimum around S$4.40. ^[33]
Growbeansprout (consensus from Singapore brokers):
- Consensus share‑price target S$5.21, implying about 10.4% upside from a current price of S$4.72 as at 4 December 2025. ^[34]
SGInvestors target‑price aggregator:
- Recent reports in the last three months show targets between S$4.86 and S$5.75, with a median of S$5.14 and an average of S$5.22, implying roughly 10–12% upside from around S$4.70. ^[35]
Phillip/POEMS (17 Nov 2025):
- Rating: ACCUMULATE.
- Target price S$5.35, raised from S$4.86, citing improving growth from associates, Thailand mobile price repair and an expectation of further monetisation of stakes in Gulf Energy and Bharti Airtel. ^[36]

Against that relatively bullish backdrop, remember:

UBS is now Neutral at S$4.40 after the share‑price surge. TS2 Tech
Morningstar’s fair value is S$4.36, below market price. ^[37]

So the “analyst chorus” is: solid business, healthy dividend, mid‑single to low‑double‑digit upside, but valuations are no longer obviously cheap.

Growth drivers: where Singtel’s story could still surprise

Stripping away the stock‑ticker noise, Singtel’s transformation rests on a few big pillars.

1. Nxera and the data‑centre / AI story

DC Tuas: a 58MW “hyper‑connected” green data centre in Singapore, funded by a S$643 million green loan, due to go live in 2026. ^[38]
Regional expansion: Nxera plans to grow beyond 200MW of capacity by December 2026 and expand into new Tier‑1 markets in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. ^[39]
STT GDC deal (if it closes): gives Singtel/KRR full control of one of Asia’s largest data‑centre platforms, dramatically scaling its AI‑infrastructure footprint. ^[40]
>20% EBITDA growth guidance for Nxera over at least the next four years. ^[41]

For a telco historically stuck in low‑single‑digit growth land, that kind of compounding from a new segment is a big part of the re‑rating thesis.

2. Enterprise and IT services (NCS)

NCS, Singtel’s enterprise tech arm, is quietly pulling a lot of weight:

Operating profit up ~41% in H1 FY26. ^[42]
Growing order book (some analysts cite ~20% order‑growth momentum). ^[43]

NCS is a nice bridge between connectivity and digital transformation: think cloud migration, cybersecurity, and government IT contracts – the unglamorous but sticky stuff.

3. Regional associates: Bharti Airtel, Telkomsel, AIS, Globe

Singtel’s portfolio stakes in regional mobile champions continue to provide:

Rising dividends and equity‑accounted profits, especially from Bharti Airtel as Indian users move to higher‑ARPU 4G/5G plans. ^[44]
Optionality for further partial stake sales if the company wants to recycle more capital.

In H1 FY26, associates contributed S$915 million in post‑tax profit, a big swing factor in group earnings. ^[45]

4. 5G and AI recognition

Frost & Sullivan’s awards for RE:AI (GPU‑as‑a‑Service) and 5G enterprise leadership are, admittedly, marketing‑friendly badges – but they signal that Singtel is not just talking about AI and 5G; it is building actual platforms and landing customers in those domains. ^[46]

Key risks that could derail the story

The bull case has teeth, but so do the risks. A few stand‑outs:

1. Optus outages and regulatory backlash

Optus has now:

Suffered a major 13‑hour outage in September 2025 that disrupted hundreds of emergency calls and has been linked to four deaths; ^[47]
Endured a second emergency‑call outage less than two weeks later; ^[48]
And, as of 4 December 2025, just restored services after an nbn‑related outage affecting nearly 100,000 customers in Queensland. ^[49]

Regulators and politicians are openly talking about telecoms reform and overhauling emergency‑call obligations after the Optus failures. That could mean fines, mandated investments, or more stringent operating requirements – all of which could pressure returns in Australia. ^[50]

2. Big‑ticket M&A and balance‑sheet risk

Buying >80% of STT GDC for over S$5 billion is strategically powerful, but:

It adds execution risk (integrating a huge data‑centre platform).
It could raise leverage at precisely the moment investors have grown comfortable with Singtel’s de‑risked balance sheet. ^[51]

If AI/data‑centre demand continues to boom, the deal could look genius. If returns disappoint or capex balloons, the market can sour quickly.

3. Competition and structural pressure in core telco

Behind the shiny AI story, the old problems haven’t vanished:

In Singapore, mobile service revenue has been under pressure – roaming and legacy voice usage are still structurally weaker. ^[52]
In Australia, the mobile market remains brutally competitive, with rival operators eager to poach disillusioned Optus customers after each outage. ^[53]

Telco is still a capital‑intensive, regulated business with limited pricing power in many markets.

4. Valuation and “lower margin of safety”

Both The Smart Investor and Morningstar point out that, after the big 2025 rally:

Singtel is trading above some fair‑value estimates (e.g., Morningstar’s S$4.36). ^[54]
The margin of safety for new investors is lower than it was when the stock was in the S$3‑handle earlier this year.

The upside case now leans more on continued execution in data centres and digital services, rather than simple multiple expansion from an unloved dividend stock.

Bottom line: how does Singtel look on 4 December 2025?

Stepping back, the investment picture as of 4 December 2025 looks something like this:

Business quality: stronger than in years past. Underlying profit is growing, capital is being recycled from legacy stakes into higher‑growth digital infrastructure, and the dividend framework is clearer and more generous. ^[55]
Growth drivers: Nxera, NCS and regional associates give Singtel credible paths to mid‑single‑digit or better earnings growth, with Nxera in particular carrying >20% EBITDA‑growth guidance. ^[56]
Shareholder returns: investors are getting a mix of ~3.6–3.9% dividend yield plus buybacks and occasional special/value‑realisation dividends – a decent package for a large‑cap telco. ^[57]
Valuation: after a 50% rally, most sell‑side targets point to high‑single‑digit to low‑double‑digit price upside, not another vertical year. Some cautious voices (UBS, Morningstar) argue that the stock is now fairly valued or even slightly rich. ^[58]
Risk: Optus’ outage saga and potential telecom‑regulation reforms in Australia are not just noise; they’re a meaningful overhang on sentiment and could have real financial consequences if regulators tighten rules or impose penalties. ^[59]

For long‑term investors who buy the thesis that Singtel is evolving into a regional digital‑infrastructure and AI platform – and who are comfortable with Australian political risk – the stock still has a plausible path to respectable total returns from here.

For more conservative income seekers, the question is whether a sub‑4% yield with operational and M&A risk is attractive enough when safer yields have risen globally.

Either way, Singtel is no longer the sleepy yield play it once was. It’s now a complex mix of telco cashflows, AI‑driven data‑centre growth, and geopolitical/regulatory risk – which is exactly why the market is so fascinated with it in late 2025.