SINGAPORE Telecommunications (SingTel) said on Tuesday its mobile customer base in Asia surged 37 per cent on the year to 216.7 million at the end of September.

The growth was powered by SingTel's six regional associates, which expanded their mobile users by between 15 and 59 per cent year-on-year, South-east Asia's largest telecom firm said in a statement.

Compared with a quarter ago, the overall growth was a strong 9.6 percent, it said.

SingTel's Indian mobile arm Bharti signed up a record 8.1 million new users during the three months to September, boosting its total base to 77.48 million.

Telkomsel of Indonesia attracted 8.06 million new users to 60.5 million, AIS of Thailand signed up 810,000 new subscribers, while Globe Telecom of the Philippines saw a quarterly rise of 1.01 million net users, SingTel said.

Warid of Pakistan added 668,000 new users during the September quarter while Pacific Bangladesh Telecom also saw an increase in subscribers, to 1.75 million from 1.70 million the previous quarter.

At home, SingTel expanded its mobile user base to 2.87 million in the September quarter from 2.75 million in the three months ended in June.

Wholly-owned Australian subsidiary Optus saw its mobile users increase to 7.42 million from 7.24 million in the quarter ended in June.

SingTel is to announce its September quarter earnings results on Wednesday.

The company is 55 per cent owned by state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings. -- AFP