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Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. (ST), Southeast Asia’s biggest phone company, agreed to buy Amobee Inc. for $321 million to expand in mobile advertising as it restructures its businesses by product type.

The acquisition of U.S.-based Amobee is expected to be completed before June, SingTel, as the Singapore-based company is known, said in a filing today.

SingTel expects to generate growth by expanding mobile advertising business to offer deals targeted at consumers such as through coupons and loyalty programs as it reduces the reliance on traditional phone services. The company has about 434 million customers in 25 countries, across Asia and Africa though its own units and associates such as Bharti Airtel Ltd. (BHARTI)

“The mobile advertising market is nascent and has significant potential,” SingTel said in the statement. “We want to capture that growth in developed and emerging markets with this acquisition.”

The company will also reorganize itself into three businesses of consumer, digital services and information technology for large business and government customers.

Paul O’Sullivan, who currently heads SingTel’s Optus unit in Australia, will run the consumer division while Singapore chief executive officer Allen Lew will be in charge of the digital unit.

The new business structure will take effect on April 1.

SingTel shares closed March 2 at S$3.15 and have gained 1.9 percent this year, compared with a 13 percent jump in the Straits Times Index. (FSSTI)

SingTel owns all of its Singapore and Australian phone businesses in addition to minority stakes in six other mobile operators including Bharti, India’s largest wireless operator, PT Telekomunikasi Selular in Indonesia and Advanced Info Service Pcl (ADVANC) in Thailand.

(Reuters) - Singapore Telecommunications Ltd, Southeast Asia's largest telecom firm, will lay off around 500 staff in Singapore who will be offered jobs at a unit of China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd as part of a restructuring.

Sino Huawei Technologies Pte Ltd will then operate and maintain SingTel's copper-based voice and data network infrastructure in Singapore for an initial period of five years starting June, SingTel said in a statement.

"The initiative will allow SingTel to focus on core competencies such as product development, marketing and customer engagement," said Executive Vice President of Networks Tay Soo Meng.

Affected SingTel employees will be offered employment at Huawei with no change to existing roles, responsibilities, remuneration and benefits, the Singapore firm added.

SingTel, which employs around 13,400 people in Singapore, is trying to turn itself into a multimedia content provider to differentiate itself from other telecom firms that provide utility-like services