BayanTel sees 12% revenue growth this yr

Lopez-owned Bayan Telecommunications Inc. expects revenues this year to grow 12 percent to about P5.7 billion, with data services growing by leaps and bounds and contributing a growing share of the business.

In an interview with The STAR, BayanTel chief finance officer Gary Olivar said they also project earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in 2004 to reach P2.5 billion, or much higher than last year.

"So far, we have exceeded our net revenue and EBITDA targets. Data now contributes close to 40 percent of the business," Olivar said.

BayanTel ended the first quarter of 2004 with 254,000 subscribers, 25 percent more than the 208,000 subscriber base during the same period last year.

This has been the highest subscriber base for BayanTel since Jan. 2002. Bulk of the growth of subscribers is in Metro Manila, where BayanTel serves the communities of Quezon City, Malabon, Valuenzuela, Manila and Caloocan.

Between March 2003 to March 2004, BayanTel subscribers in Metro Manila have grown by 34 percent.

The company credits the growth in subscriber base to a stronger customer focus. The growth in BayanTel’s voice services can also be attributed to the 49-percent growth in international long distance revenues, arising from higher minutes and growth in the global prepaid cards catering to the overseas Filipino markets in Japan, the United States, and in other countries.

Officials added that BayanTel’s sustained growth in its fixed line services will be driven by its continued foray in the provincial markets where potential for growth remains high. At present, BayanTel is also the leading provider of fixed line services in Bicol and Eastern Visayas (Leyte and Samar) and has significant market share in other provinces in Visayas and Mindanao.

The Lopez group’s telecommunications company is currently working on a debt restructuring program involving $477 million in loans and is now under court receivership.

BayanTel parent Benpres Holdings earlier described the former’s debt restructuring and rehabilitation plan as ‘uncertain’ as the court-appointed receiver and the creditors disagree over the recovery plan for the company.

According to Benpres chief operating officer Angel Ong, none of the creditors support the recommendation of the receiver and KPMG. The creditors still favor the debt rehabilitation proposal prepared by BayanTel management.

BayanTel has asked the rehabilitation court to come up with a final restructuring program that defines the rights of the stakeholders involved in the restructuring. "With a master restructuring document, possible arbitrariness and caprice of parties to the rehabilitation, especially the receiver, may be curbed and potential disagreements between the stakeholders of BayanTel may be minimized if not totally avoided," it told the court.

Last May 17, lawyer Remigio Noval, the court-appointed BayanTel receiver, submitted his proposed rehabilitation plan for BayanTel to the rehabilitation court. The various parties, including the debtors and both secured and unsecured creditors, were asked to submit their comments to the plan. None accepted the receiver’s plan.

For BayanTel in particular, the company is concerned about the level of sustainable debt proposed in the plan and the suggested role of the receiver over the duration of the company’s rehabilitation.

Since none of the parties accepted the receiver’s plan, the court will have to decide on what plan to approve for BayanTel after considering all the submitted comments.