PLDT units hold 55% of postpaid market

MANILA, Philippines - The wireless units of dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) expect higher market share in the mobile postpaid segment of the highly competitive telecommunication industry.

PLDT executive vice president Charles Lim said Smart Communications Inc. and Digitel Mobile Philippines Inc. or Sun Cellular continue to dominate the postpaid with a 55 percent market share as of end-September.

Lim pointed out that Smart and Sun Cellular have strengthened their combined leadership in the postpaid business after posting strong subscriber and revenue growth in the first nine months of the year.

Smart and Sun cellular postpaid subscribers rose 15.4 percent to 2.66 million in the first nine months of the year from 2.3 million in the same period last year.

“Smart Communications, through its Smart and Sun Cellular brands, continues to be the postpaid leader in terms of subscriber base and revenue growth. Our business has been consistently growing as we continue to offer innovative services that suit the various lifestyles of our subscribers,” he said.

Combined postpaid revenues went up by 13.3 percent to P15.91 billion from January to September surpassing the industry growth of 11.7 percent.

Postpaid revenues now account for about 20 percent of total cellular revenues for the PLDT wireless group.

“This is a segment where customer experience is key, we’ve definitely raised the bar in postpaid with our combined strategy of network superiority and digital lifestyle offerings together with premium handset deals and brand of customer service,” Lim added.