Deciding that Mr. Market was probably overly pessimistic, I added to my already very significant investment in SingTel as its share price sank below $3.10 again sometime in 3Q 2018.

The business environment has become more challenging for telcos, no doubt.

However, we have to remind ourselves that telecommunications companies are not all equally vulnerable.

Experience tells me that in any sector that is facing challenging conditions,

1. entities which are sectoral leaders 

and

2. entities which have strong balance sheets 

will most likely prevail and SingTel is that entity here.

SingTel’s dividend yield expanded as its share price declined.

With a strong balance sheet, SingTel is committed to paying a meaningful dividend.

SingTel is very much aware of the challenges to its businesses and is very much in the process of transformation to stay relevant.

To be quite realistic, however, if the transformation takes longer than two …