PLDT posts 2% increase in H1 net income to P19.7B

PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan: Signs of growth. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) booked a 2-percent increase in net income to P19.7 billion in the first six months of the year, officials said during a briefing on Wednesday. The country’s biggest telecommunications firm said consolidated service revenues hit P81.1 billion, up 2 percent.

PLDT attributed the small profit gain to the combined impact of higher core income, the gain from the sale of the business process outsourcing (BPO) business, higher foreign exchange and derivative losses and the retroactive effect of the recognition of termination benefits.

PLDT said core net income during the period was up 5 percent at P19.4 billion. PLDT president Napoleon Nazareno said the company was maintaining its full-year core net income target of P38.3 billion.

“It is encouraging that we are beginning to show signs of growth. We continue to pursue growth in data, while maintaining the equilibrium of our core businesses and managing the long-tail of our legacy services,” PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

He also pointed to the growing impact of the group’s so-called multimedia strategy through Smart Music, Cignal over Fibr and Cignal TV-to-Go.

“I believe we’re beginning to see the combined impact of multimedia and the Internet on our mainstream telco business,” Pangilinan added.

Revenues from data and Internet more than offset declines of PLDT’s legacy businesses, mainly through international and national long distance streams, PLDT said.

PLDT still derives most of its revenues from traditional text messaging and cellular domestic voice, which accounted for about 60 percent. Non-SMS data accounted for 21 percent while the legacy businesses, which have been declining, accounted for 19 percent.

The company recorded continued growth in subscribers as PLDT ended the first half with 73.34 million subscribers, up 5 percent. This represented about 69 percent of all cellular subscribers in the country, Nazareno said.

Smart Communications ended the year with 25.5 million subscribers, Talk ‘N Text with 31.8 million and Sun Cellular with 16.1 million, PLDT said. Of the total figure, 97 percent of total subscribers were using prepaid accounts.

PLDT’s combined broadband subscriber base, meanwhile, was at 3.2 million at the end of the first half. This helped bring total broadband revenues during the six month period to P12.7 billion, up 14 percent. PLDT said broadband and Internet currently accounted for 16 percent of total service revenues.