UPDATE 2-SingTel profit misses view, but outlook soothes

* Q3 net profit S$902 mln vs S$922 mln street view

* Sees stable div from associates despite Bharti weakness

* Keeps low FY single-digit revenue growth for Singapore

* SingTel CEO says Bharti's Africa business progressing well

* Shares rise 1.3 pct, outperform broad market (Adds CEO's comments on Bharti; updates shares)

By Kevin Lim

SINGAPORE, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel), Southeast Asia's biggest phone company, posted on Monday a fourth consecutive fall in quarterly profit, hurt by weak results at home and in India due to higher costs.

But SingTel comforted investors by reiterating a forecast for low single-digit full-year revenue growth in the city-state and stable dividends from its associate firms. Its shares were up 1.3 percent in late morning trade, beating the broader stock market's 0.4 percent rise.

SingTel's earnings have been on a downtrend due to weaker performances by its once fast-growing mobile phone associates, in particular Bharti Airtel Ltd, which last week reported a 22 percent drop in net profit for the three months to December.

Bharti, which ventured into Africa in 2010 by acquiring most of the African operations of Kuwait's Zain, has been struggling to turn around the African businesses. Its weaker-than-expected performance the last quarter was, however, due to its performance in India.

"It has been a while since SingTel results beat market expectations and some of the operational KPIs in the 3Q result suggest rising competitive pressures, hence we think the share price will likely remain weak," said Sachin Gupta, Nomura's Singapore-based Asian telecom analyst.

SingTel, which is 55 percent owned by Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings, reported a net profit of S$902 million ($716 million) for the fiscal third quarter ended December, down 9.6 percent from S$998 million a year ago.

The result lagged the S$922 million average forecast of four analysts surveyed by Reuters. SingTel has now reported four straight quarters of year-on-year profit decline.

Underlying net profit was S$895 million, 7.6 percent below the S$968 million posted a year ago.

But while investors have punished Bharti's share price after several quarters of weak earnings, SingTel CEO Chua Sock Koong said she was happy with the Indian firm's performance in Africa.

"If you look at the margins it has actually gone from 19.1 pct to 26.7 pct. They have also improved on their market positions in a number of markets... I would say that execution in Africa has been tracking well," she said at a media briefing.

As for India, Chua, who sits on Bharti's board, said the rollout of 3G services in India has raised costs but that will be recovered as more customers sign up.

SingTel owns about one-third of Bharti.

SINGAPORE, AUSTRALIA

In Singapore, revenue rose 3 per cent to S$1.68 billion, but EBITDA fell 7 percent to S$547 million due to higher mobile acquisition and retention costs. SingTel, like most mobile operators, subsidises the cost of handsets such as the iPhone to get customers.

"The strong gain in mobile customers in Singapore during the quarter led to higher acquisition and retention costs, while contributions from the regional mobile associates declined due to their weaker currencies and 3G losses from Bharti India," SingTel said in a statement.

SingTel saw stronger contributions from Telkomsel in Indonesia and AIS in Thailand, but its Philippine associate Globe Telecom reported lower earnings.

SingTel's Australian unit, Optus, grew operating revenue by 2 percent to A$2.42 billion ($2.6 billion) while net profit for the quarter rose 4 per cent to A$177 million.

SingTel reiterated guidance for low single-digit growth in operating revenue and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in Australia.

SingTel shares have been flat so far this year, underperforming the 12 percent rise in the benchmark Straits Times Index. ($1 = 1.2599 Singapore dollars) ($1 = 0.9362 Australian dollars) (Editing by Richard Pullin and Muralikumar Anantharaman)