MANILA, Philippines -- Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) said Tuesday its mobile phone subscriber base had grown to more than 33 million by the end of June, reflecting net additions of 1.6 million in the second quarter.

The figure represents the combined cellular subscriber base of units Smart Communications Inc. and Pilipino Telephone Corp., PLDT told the country's stock exchange.

PLDT previously reported that group-wide subscriber base as of end-March expanded to 31.6 million with net additions in the first quarter reaching 1.25 million.

PLDT's first-quarter net profit rose 21.0 percent to P10.4 billion ($228 million). Core net profit, which strips out foreign exchange and derivative gains and other one-off items, rose 11.0 percent to P9.3 billion.

PLDT, the country's biggest company by market value, expects core net profit for the whole of 2008 to hit P37.0 billion, up 5.0 percent from the 2007 level. Core earnings last year grew 12.0 percent.

In May, PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan said the company was "cautious and vigilant yet confident that the year 2008 will be a better one" in terms of earnings. But he also said the global economic slowdown and high inflation would eventually hurt the company's earnings.

PLDT is partly owned by owned by the NTT group of Japan and Hong Kong-listed conglomerate First Pacific Co. Ltd.

Shares in PLDT were 3.2 percent higher at P2,435.00 in early trade. Piltel was flat at P7.70.

($1 = P45.60)