SingTel, which last month entered into a 50-50 partnership with Virgin Mobile, is in "preliminary discussions" with New World Development, which is one of six mobile phone operators in Hong Kong, said the report, citing sources.

A spokesman from SingTel declined to comment on the report. The report revives speculation on SingTel's regional expansion plans, which suffered setbacks, first in February when it lost out to Richard Li's Pacific Century Cyberworks to buy a 54 per cent stake in dominant Hong Kong carrier Cable and Wireless HKT.

In May, SingTel's plans to buy a stake in major Malaysian firm Time Engineering Bhd. and its key telecoms unit TimedotCom fell through amid observations the Malaysian government opposed the deal.