StarHub - RHB Research 2026-07-03: A Tough Row To Hoe

• We expect StarHub (SGX:CC3)’s near-term earnings outlook to remain challenging, due to the downward re-pricing of ARPUs in the market. Its enterprise business remains the proverbial bright spot, with an expanding orderbook providing visibility.

• - Read this at SGinvestors.io -

Leadership change.

• StarHub’s leadership transition has been met with cautious optimism by the market. Matt Williams, CEO-designate and current Deputy CEO, is set to helm the company in Jan 2027.

• We see four focus areas for the incoming CEO (set against the backdrop of an industry consolidation in the medium term):

  1. - Read this at SGinvestors.io -
  2. margin resilience;:
  3. monetising the Infinity Play propositions, and
  4. scaling the enterprise business

Still a strong contender for M1.

• The lapse of the Simba-M1 merger transaction has allowed StarHub to re-evaluate all options, albeit with no specific timelines. We believe it remains a strong contender for M1. Given that both StarHub and M1 are designated as critical information infrastructure providers, a merger would strengthen the overall cyber-security construct – a key area of focus by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) when evaluating merger proposals aside from competition.

• StarHub has not ruled out inorganic expansion of the regional enterprise business, and is set to divest its remaining 38.9% stake in the cyber-security outfit, Ensign, in 2H26.

Mobile and broadband pressure likely to persist with the re-basing of ARPUs.

• Read more at SGinvestors.io.

Singapore Research RHB Securities Research | https://www.rhbgroup.com/ 2026-07-03

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