Next Mobile hopes to boost subscriber base to 250,000

Leading digital trunk radio operator Next Mobile Inc. (NMI) hopes to increase its customer base from the current 30,000 subscribers to as much as 250,000 business customers in five to seven years time.

NMI president and chief executive officer Mel Velarde also projects the company’s revenues to hit P1.2 billion next year compared to about P500 million this year. "By the end of 2006-2006, we expect the dividends to start coming in," he said.

NMI’s average revenue per user (ARPU) at P1,300 is about three times than that of the cellular industry’s. "Our aim is just to corner at least 10 percent of what the mobile industry is earning," Velarde said.

During a presentation before NMI customers in the freight and logistics business, NMI officials noted that the company has transformed from merely offering push-to-talk or radio dispatch to offering other products and services like texting, prepaid Internet, global positioning system (GPS), and call management system, to name a few.

The company recently launched its homegrown software known as the Intelligent Mobile Communication Service (IMCS) that allows for time stamping of all calls going into the system.

Chief finance officer Wilfred Racadio noted that from P3 billion in debts, the company’s network has grown to a positive P3 billion by end-2003, with zero debt.

NMI recently acquired publicly listed company Premier Entertainment Productions (PEP) to facilitate the former’s backdoor listing. The five companies that own NMI merged with PEP. A new company called Next Communications will be created that will eventually own both NMI and PEP.

Velarde said that they will soon secure the necessary approvals from the Securities and Exchange Commission for the merger. "We hope to submit the documents by October or November this year," he disclosed.

The telco also unveiled plans of raising P1 billion in equity through a rights offering plus another P500 million in loans hopefully before the end of the year. The amount will be utilized to expand NMI’s presence nationwide by 2006. Just recently, NMI expanded to Baguio and soon, to Cebu.