Key Highlights

• According to coverage of the company's FY26 results published on 23 September 2026, Tuas reported Revenue of S$187.6 million, up 24% on FY25.

• Tuas has guided to FY27 Capital Expenditure of S$50 million to S$55 million for mobile and broadband infrastructure.

• Underlying EBITDA was about S$83.7 million, up 22% (one report gives S$83.8 million, so the figure is subject to rounding or presentation differences).

• Statutory net profit after tax was S$26.0 million and underlying net profit after tax S$29.6 million.

Why does a Singapore mobile challenger that grew revenue by 24% still attract so much debate? Because Tuas Ltd (ASX:TUA) is expanding its customer base quickly in a market where the incumbents are responding on price, and the FY26 result released on 23 September 2026 shows both sides of that trade-off: encouraging operating momentum, but a bigger cost bill ahead and a Business model that depends on keeping unit costs below rivals.

What the FY26 result showed

According to coverage of the company's FY26 results published on 23 September 2026, Tuas reported revenue of S$187.6 million, up 24% on FY25. Underlying EBITDA was about S$83.7 million, up 22% (one report gives S$83.8 million, so the figure is subject to rounding or presentation differences). Statutory net profit after tax was S$26.0 million and underlying net profit after tax S$29.6 million. Year-end cash and term deposits were S$498.8 million.

On operations, active mobile services rose from about 1.254 million to about 1.458 million as at 31 July 2026, and fibre broadband closed the year with around 62,000 subscribers. Executive Chair David Teoh said cash generation remained encouraging, and the company flagged new products for the Singapore market during the current financial year.

Those numbers matter because Tuas, which trades in Australian dollars on the ASX but earns its revenue in Singapore dollars, is still a young operator. Its Simba Brand has built scale largely by offering simple, low-priced plans, and the company's valuation has depended on whether that scale converts into durable profit rather than simply more connections.

How the business makes money

Tuas is a Singapore mobile challenger, with a smaller but growing fibre broadband arm. Revenue is driven by three variables: the number of active services, the average revenue earned per service each month, and the retention of existing customers. Costs are driven by network access and wholesale arrangements, customer acquisition, and an increasing amount of owned infrastructure and compliance spending.

In a market with a small number of large operators, the growth lever for a challenger is usually price and inclusions. A lower revenue per user can still be profitable if the cost to serve is lower than competitors' and if customers stay. Morgan Stanley, in a note reported on 25 September 2026, described Tuas as the low-cost operator and said renewal rates remain very encouraging.

The competitive picture

The most important risk identified in coverage of the result is competition at the budget end. Morgan Stanley called the intensifying pressure at the lower end "painful" because customers who move to cheaper plans from within Tuas's own base reduce its revenue per user. In plain terms, when rivals launch discount brands or sharper plans, a challenger's price advantage narrows and its existing customers can be cannibalised.

That is a double-edged observation. It suggests Tuas has influence, but it also implies that the market's overall revenue pool per customer may be structurally lower than before, which constrains how much any operator can earn.

Coverage also noted that the proposed Acquisition of M1 lapsed. That removes one route to additional scale, so growth now rests on organic expansion; the company's ASX announcements should be consulted for the detail.

Capital spending and regulatory costs

Tuas has guided to FY27 capital expenditure of S$50 million to S$55 million for mobile and broadband infrastructure. It also expects Simba to incur an additional S$15 million to S$30 million of capital and operating expenditure in FY27 to meet Singapore regulators' enhanced Cybersecurity requirements for critical infrastructure owners.

These are material relative to the S$83.7 million of underlying EBITDA reported for FY26, even though the company's cash balance gives it flexibility. They also illustrate a broader point: as a telco grows and is classed as critical infrastructure, compliance obligations rise, and those costs are partly fixed rather than scaling with subscribers.

What to monitor

Several items will shape the next few reporting periods:

- Revenue per user trends, to see whether competitive discounting is eroding the benefit of subscriber growth.

- Churn and renewal rates, which underpin the low-cost model.

- The timing and size of the cybersecurity spending, and whether it falls at the upper end of the S$15 million to S$30 million range.

- Delivery of the new products signalled for the Singapore market, including any push into enterprise and small-business customers.

- Capital expenditure against the S$50 million to S$55 million guidance, and how the substantial cash balance is used.

- Broadband subscriber growth from a small base of about 62,000.

Bottom line

FY26 shows growing revenue and Earnings and a large cash balance. The debate is about the quality of growth.