Starhub has reported operating revenue of $550 million for the fourth quarter of 2009 and $2.15 billion for the full year. The group’s EBITDA for the quarter was $152 million or 8% lower year-on-year but 1% higher at $654 million for the full year. EBITDA margin as a percentage of service revenue was at 29.2% for the quarter and 31.8% for the full year.

For the quarter, profit from operations at $89 million was 15% lower y-o-y but remained stable for the full year at $408 million. Net profit after tax decreased 15% for the quarter but increased 3% for the full year recording $74 million and $320 million respectively. Free cash flow (FCF) at $82 million for the quarter was about the same as last year. Looking at the full year, FCF at S$461 million was 22% higher than last year’s $378 million.

Capital expenditure (capex) was 4% higher at $57 million compared to $55 million a year ago. For the full year, capex at $231 million represented 11% of the group’s operating revenue.

Mobile revenue grew 1% y-o-y. The higher revenue was mainly contributed by a larger customer base. Pre-paid mobile services revenue increased 6% to $259 million, accounting for 24% of the Mobile revenue mix. Post-paid mobile services revenue remained stable at S$835 million.

Pay TV revenue rose 2% to $406 million from $398 million. This was driven by a larger customer base, which increased 3% y-o-y. For the year, ARPU came in at $56 and was $1 lower from a year ago. The total customer base expanded to 539,000 households.

Broadband revenue at $241 million was 5% lower y-o-y. This was due to customers’ plan mix towards lower tier price plans, and increased discounts offered across all its Broadband subscriptions to drive multi-services take-up. The MaxOnline customer base now stands at 400,000, an increase of 7%.

Fixed Network revenue increased 6% to $318 million from $300 million previously. Data & Internet services revenue, which makes up 85% of the Fixed Network revenue, grew 9% to $269 million from the previous year.

The percentage of total Hubbing households that subscribed to any two or more StarHub services stands at 55%, with 44% subscribing to all three services.

Based on the current outlook, Starhub says it expects the group’s 2010 operating revenue growth to be in the low single-digit range, and EBITDA margin on service revenue is expected to be around 30%.

The 2010 cash capex, as a percentage of operating revenue, is expected to increase but not exceed 14%. The increase in capex, driven by the new IT business support systems and the roll out capex of Nucleus Connect, will result in 2010 depreciation being higher at around 13% of operating revenue.

Starhub intends to pay a minimum cash dividend of 5 cents per ordinary share per quarter, totalling 20 cents for FY2010.