PLDT sees sustained growth in broadband revenues

MANILA, Philippines - Dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) sees a sustained growth in its broadband and Internet business in the second half with the introduction of smartphones in the domestic market.

PLDT president and chief executive officer Napoleon Nazareno said the group’s revenues from broadband and Internet business surged 32 percent to P11.6 billion in the first half of the year.

“We have clearly maintained our leadership position in broadband and Internet as our subscriber base continued to grow, hitting more than 3.1 million as of end-June this year,” Nazareno reported.

He pointed out that there are rich opportunities in broadband that are expected to grow even more as smartphones become more and more affordable to a broader segment of the population.

“The large population of overseas Filipinos, high literacy rate, popularity of the social networks, and our relatively young domestic population underpin the robust demand for broadband connectivity,” he explained.

According to him, the wireless broadband revenues of the PLDT Group improved 42 percent to P5.98 billion in the first half, of which P3.3 billion was accounted for by Smart Communications Inc.

Orlando Vea, wireless adviser of Smart, said mobile internet usage continued to be strong with the group’s mobile internet revenues nearly doubling to P1.4 billion.

For Smart alone, Vea said mobile internet revenues jumped 63 percent to P1.2 billion in the first half.

“Now that we have ‘super-charged’ our network, we are pleased that consumers have recognized our service and quality advantages as evidenced by the ongoing shift in subscriber preference. As with cellular, we are leveraging off our network superiority which allows for greater coverage, faster speeds, and more reliable connectivity,” he added.

PLDT DSL had the biggest contribution to broadband and internet revenues at P5.2 billion in the first six months of the year, of which the recently-launched MyBro wireless broadband service contributed P2 billion.

PLDT Home broadband services refer to connections provided to the home such as DSL and MyBro with subscriber base hitting more than 877,000 at the end of June.

On the other hand, Digital Telecommunications Philippines (Digitel) contributed P1.6 billion to the group’s broadband and internet revenues with 636,000 DSL subscribers.

PLDT reported an eight percent decline in income to P19.5 billion in the first half of the year from P21.3 billion in the same period last year as it continued to consolidate the operations of a telecom provider acquired from business tycoon John Gokongwei late last year.

It would be recalled that the PLDT Group shelled out P69.2 billion to acquire Gokongwei’s controlling stake in Digitel in a transaction that was closed last October 24.

Amid the lower income in the first half of the year, PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan earlier said the dominant carrier is still well on its way to meeting its profit guidance of P37 billion for this year.

Data showed that PLDT’s overall consolidated service revenues jumped 12 percent to P84.7 billion for the first six months of the year from P37.91 billion in the same period last year.