Globe consolidated revenues up 6% in H1

CEBU, Philippines - Amid challenging business environment as the telecommunication industry in the Philippines almost hit the saturation point, Globe Telecom Inc., registered a six percent improvement in consolidated service revenues for the second quarter this year.

In the company’s official performance report, the Ayala-led telecom firm reported a P40.8 billion service revenue generation in the second half of 2012.

The mobile business on the other hand, sustained strong growth momentum to end the six-month period with revenues of P33.3 billion, also a six percent better than last year’s results.

Broadband revenues sustained its double-digit expansion and were up 13 percent year-on-year to P4.1 billion with the continued strong demand for Tattoo-On-the-Go offerings.

The report further revealed that the mobile business thrived against the challenges posted by competition, notwithstanding peaking penetration levels driven in part of multi-SIM usage and subscribers’ preference for services offering the best value for their money.

This period’s mobile revenue growth according to the report is a testament to the strength of the brands that Globe has built over the past years and a result of the investments made in pioneering customizable services, improving the retail experience with the Globe concept stores, and introducing barrier-breaking product and service innovations which altogether revolutionized the industry.

Cumulative mobile subscribers stood at 31.7 million as of end-June, an increase of 12 percent from the same period last year.

According to the report, the growth of broadband revenues, is largely driven by rising Internet usage stemming from the popularity of social networking sites, the Filipinos’ constant need to communicate and be connected with loved ones who may be abroad, and the increasing affordability of access devices such as PCs, tables and laptops.

The company’s Tattoo-On-The-Go products continue to comprise bulk of quarterly acquisitions which led to the over-all growth in broadband subscriber base to 1.6 million at the end of the first half of the year, higher by 22 percent from 1.3 million in the same period in 2011.

Likewise, the company’s second quarter service revenues reached an all-time high of P20.5 billion, led by the record top line performance of the mobile business despite the step-up in competition during the period, coupled with broad-based growth from the fixed line and broadband business.

“We are very satisfied with our performance this period, allowing us to further extend our growth momentum for another quarter. This was achieved despite the challenges posed by competition that is beginning to leverage its scale advantages of having a bigger combined subscriber base and network. Also, the market’s preference for value offers continues to increase, putting more pressure on yields in our mobile business. Plus our existing network has to contend with emerging capacity constraints caused by the increased volume of voice and data traffic. Nevertheless, we remain focused on our strategy blueprint and were able to extend our gains in key business segments,” said Ernest L. Cu, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Globe Telecom, Inc.

Cu hopes that the company will continue to build further on the uprising momentum towards the second half of this year.

“While we expect competitive and market pressures to persist and even intensify, we believe that we exert greater efforts to accelerate the completion of our network change-out and IT transformation initiatives, we will be in a better position to sustain these gains and adapt to this fast-evolving market,” Cu added.

To keep its momentum going and deliver on its promise of creating the happiest customers, Globe solidified its position in the mobile, broadband, and international business units by constantly reinventing itself through various marketing and promotional initiatives, enhancing its distribution channels with the introduction of mobile stores, and the seamless change-out of its networks to improve service quality.