SINGAPORE - M1 has posted a 4.8 per cent drop in third-quarter earnings to $32.7 million on the back of higher depreciation and interest expenses.

This came despite operating revenue rising 1 per cent to $251.6 million.

Total service revenue for the three months ended September 30 rose 4.9 per cent to $206.7 million, boosted by a 5.5 per cent increase in turnover for postpaid services and a 19.9 per cent jump in that for fixed services.

Net profit for the nine months to Sept 30 fell 13.9 per cent to $101.5 million, while operating revenue rose 2.3 per cent to $763.9 million.

M1 said in a statement on Monday that its fibre customer base grew by 6,000 during the third quarter to hit 182,000.

Following the 2G network shutdown in the second quarter, the telco conducted a review of the entire mobile customer base, which led to the termination of inactive and dormant customers, as well as migration of customers to the machine-to-machine (M2M) platform that is not included in the reported customer base. This accounted for a reduction of 14,000 postpaid and 47,000 prepaid customers.

As a result, M1's postpaid customer base increased by 5,000 and its prepaid customer base decreased by 41,000, bringing its total mobile customer base to 2.01 million.

Earnings per share for the quarter sank 4.5 per cent to 3.5 cents, while net asset value per share eased to 42.4 cents from 43.4 cents as at Dec 31 last year.

M1 said it expects a decline in net profit after tax for the full year 2017, based on current outlook and barring unforeseen circumstances.

Its shares fell 0.6 per cent or one cent to $1.805 on Monday, before the results were announced.