Bayantel revenue declined in 2010

MANILA, Philippines—Lopez-led Bayan Telecommunications Inc. continued to make healthy gains in its broadband business, even as its total revenue declined last year in line with the rest of the industry’s performance.

The company earlier this week said it posted a drop in revenues last year as its voice services suffered from stiff competition from much-larger industry players.

Bayan, which is currently paying off massive debt as part of its rehabilitation program, said revenue reached P5.98 billion in 2010. This is lower than the P6.32 billion the company booked the previous year.

“[This was] due to lower voice revenues, which is consistent with the industry performance,” the company said.

Revenue from Bayan’s data business, which is made up of its household and corporate Internet service operations, also dropped 3 percent in 2010 to P2.97 billion from P3.05 billion in 2009.

“Data business accounts for about half of Bayan’s total revenue,” the company said.

But the company said its consumer broadband business grew 16 percent to P1.3 billion in revenue. Its subscriber base, meanwhile, reached a total of 130,000.

In 2010, Bayan said its profits were mainly weighed down by the higher costs of the continued roll-out of its landline and broadband Internet network.

Earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortization dropped 11 percent to P1.75 billion from P1.96 billion in 2009, “due mainly to lower revenue and higher operating cost to support wireless landline expansion.”

For this year, the company said it would focus on growing its market share in the small to medium business space by providing faster and more reliable services at low costs.

Last year, the company paid a total of P1.27 billion to creditors, bringing down Bayan’s total debt payments to P5.9 billion since its rehabilitation started in 2004.—Paolo G. Montecillo