GLOBE TELECOM reported Friday a 12-percent growth in nine-month net profit to P9.9 billion on the back of a modest growth in service revenues from mobile, fixed line and broadband businesses.

Core net income?which excludes foreign exchange, mark-to-market gains and losses and other non-recurring items--was flat at P9.4 billion during the January-to-September period compared to last year.

Consolidated service revenues amounted to P46.9 billion, up 1 percent from last year. The strong performance of the broadband and fixed-line data businesses, which grew year-on-year by 69 percent and 22 percent, respectively, compensated for the lower revenues from the mobile and traditional landline segments.

Cash flow as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) stood at P27.6 billion for the nine-month period, 3-percent below last year?s level. This translated to a lower Ebitda margin of 59 percent from 61 percent a year ago as the growth in operating expenses and subsidy outpaced the expansion in revenues.

The mobile business ended the period with 23.1 million subscribers, down from 23.7 million last year.
?While competition remains intense, we believe that we have the right strategies to further improve the competitive position of our mobile business,? said Globe Telecom president Ernest Cu.

The company?s broadband business continued to gain momentum as subscriber base grew almost three-fold to over half a million subscribers, beating full-year expectations.

All broadband products posted record quarterly net additions, with fully mobile Internet service Globe Broadband Tattoo leading the way. The robust subscriber growth has translated to a revenue improvement of about P907 million or 69 percent from last year, closing the period with P2.2 billion in revenues.

In line with its thrust to generate value for its shareholders and consistent with its goal of optimizing its capital structure, the board of Globe Telecoms also declared a special dividend of P50 a common share.

A total of P6.6 billion in dividends will be paid out on Dec. 15.