SINGAPORE (AFP) - Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) said Thursday fourth quarter net profit fell 17.3 percent, warning the weak economic environment would continue to impact earnings.

Net profit in the fourth quarter ended March totalled 903 million Singapore dollars, down from 1.09 billion dollars for the same period a year ago.

Analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecasted an average net profit of 851.8 million dollars.

Revenues for the quarter fell 5.1 percent to 3.57 billion dollars from 3.76 billion dollars, SingTel said in a statement.

For the full year ended March, net profit slumped 12.9 percent from a year earlier to 3.45 billion dollars while revenues rose 0.6 percent to 14.93 billion dollars.

SingTel said fourth quarter net profit fell due to foreign exchange volatility and a goodwill impairment charge of 330 million dollars for its regional mobile associates, Pakistan's Warid Telecom and Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd.

"A significant portion of the group's business is based outside Singapore," said SingTel.

"This subjects its financial results to foreign exchange volatility as the group reports in Singapore dollar."

SingTel is the largest telecommunications firm in Southeast Asia and more than two-thirds of its revenues come from the company's operations outside of Singapore.