First, the good news: SingTel reported in a filing to the Singaporean exchange today that it had sold 170,000 iPhones since launching the handset in Australia in early July, and Singapore, the Philippines and India in late August. In Singapore, where SingTel is the iPhone’s exclusive carrier, approximately 30 percent of the gadget’s buyers were new customers. In Australia, where Optus competes with Telstra and Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) to offer the iPhone, 55 percent of the carrier’s total activations were from new subscribers. SingTel estimates that Optus accounted for the majority share of iPhone 3G sales in Australia.

Now the bad news, subsidizing the iPhone has come at a cost. In Singapore iPhone 3G activations reduced EBITDA by $27 million Singaporean dollars ($18 million) in Singapore, and $44 million Australian dollars ($30.8 million) in Australia. Still, SingTel said it was “confident” that its strategy of “expanding and acquiring high value data-centric 3G subscribers is value accretive”. It reported that “early indications” show that ARPU rates for iPhone 3G users were 1.5 times as high as the overall postpaid subscriber base. No specifics on how SingTel and the iPhone are faring in the Indian market, where SingTel has a 30.4 percent stake in carrier Bharti (Release).