SINGAPORE (THE BUSINESS TIMES) - Singtel has signed a joint development agreement with energy supplier Gulf Energy and mobile phone operator Advanced Info Services (AIS) to build and operate data centres in Thailand.

This follows a memorandum of understanding inked between Singtel and Gulf Energy on Sept 30, 2021.

In a bourse filing on Thursday (Feb 3), the telecommunications company said the collaboration comes as part of its strategy to develop a regional data centre business with partners and capitalise on the strong growth potential of digital infrastructure.

Its inclusion of AIS in its partnership with Gulf Energy is in view of the mobile phone operator's large local sales force with deep relationships with Thai enterprise as well as local data centre operations know-how, which will in turn be able to provide connectivity solutions for the data centre business, said Singtel.

Highlighting Gulf Energy and AIS as leaders in the energy and telecommunications industries respectively, Singtel believes they will be able to strengthen and accelerate plans for the data centres and capture both local enterprises and hyperscaler customers.

The three companies will "work closely and expeditiously" to establish their joint venture company, it added.

Site selection has already commenced and the data centres will begin development in the coming months, according to Singtel.

Shares of Singtel closed at $2.43 on Monday, down three cents, or 1.2 per cent.