GLOBE TELECOM, Inc. reported its net income grew 3% during the third quarter to P5.02 billion, driven by an 11% increase in revenues from its expanding customer base.
In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, the telecommunications giant said third quarter revenues stood at P37.53 billion as the number of its mobile subscribers jumped 10% year-on-year to 65.4 million as of end-September and home broadband subscribers by 23% to 1.5 million.
For the nine-month period, Globe’s net income rose 17% to P15.15 billion, from the P12.99 billion recorded a year ago. Core net income, which eliminates non-recurring charges, one-time gains, foreign exchange gains and mark-to-market charges, was up 32% to P14.8 billion for the January to September period.
Consolidated service revenues increased 9% to P103.3 billion in the first nine months of 2018, “fueled by the surging data revenue growth across all segments.”
“The sustained growth momentum was fueled by better-than-expected data-related revenue growth across all business segments. This performance was boosted by the most pervasive 4G/LTE network, supported by the Company’s superior content offerings, through its partnerships with industry leaders and global content providers of music, lifestyle, video and eSports,” Globe said in a statement.
For the first nine months of the year, mobile revenues rose 8% to P79.1 billion, mainly driven by Globe Prepaid and TM.
Globe said its home broadband grew by 15% to P13.5 billion, while its corporate data business increased 11% to P8.4 billion. This offset the 16% drop in fixed-line voice revenues to P7.4 billion.
Total operating costs and subsidy, including depreciation charges, was 3% higher at P76.6 billion “as the increase in depreciation charges were partially offset by the decline in subsidy, interconnect costs, and rent expenses.”
Globe spent P32.5 billion in capital expenditures for the first nine months of 2018, 11% lower than the same period last year. The bulk or 78% of capex was allotted for its data-related services.
“We will remain aggressive with our network investments, which is now nearly 32% of our revenues to be able to support the growing demand for bandwidth-intensive applications and content,” Globe President and Chief Executive Officer Ernest L. Cu was quoted as saying in a statement. — DAV
