SingTel says looking at Africa, Mideast for acquisitions

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore Telecommunications (STEL.SI), Southeast Asia's biggest telecom firm, said on Tuesday it was focusing on Asia for acquisitions but would also look at Africa and the Middle East.

"Our focus remains in Asia. That's unchanged. We are also looking at some adjacent markets including Africa and the Middle East," said CEO Chua Sock Koong at a post-results briefing, when asked about acquisitions.

The firm earlier on Tuesday reported an 18 percent rise in quarterly underlying net profit driven by strong growth in regional mobile operations, roughly in line with forecasts.

(Reporting by Harry Suhartono and Kevin Lim; Editing by Neil Chatterjee)