Globe income up 10% to P12.7B

Globe Telecom Inc. saw earnings rise in the first nine months of the year, bolstered by higher service revenues and the consolidation of recently acquired Bayan Telecommunications Inc., a filing to the stock exchange Monday showed.

Globe, owned by Ayala Corp. and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., said core profit from January to September this year hit P12.7 billion, up 10 percent from the same period in 2014 as service revenues jumped to a record P83.4 billion, also up 15 percent.

Globe cited gains across its business segments, including an increase in its broadband division after consolidating Bayantel.

Globe noted that its mobile subscriber base as of end-September was at 50.1 million, up 17 percent, while broadband subscribers hit four million, up 57 percent, over the same period in 2014.

Globe said earnings were still up in the double-digit area, removing the effect of Bayantel’s consolidation, which was only possible after the National Telecommunications Commission approved last July 2015 a debt to equity conversion plan. This allowed Globe to assume control of Bayantel from its previous owner, the Lopez family behind Lopez Holdings Corp.

In its filing, Globe said service revenues without Bayantel’s consolidation were still up 13 percent.

Globe said the mobile business saw revenues grow 9 percent to P63 billion in the nine-month period, partly due to the explosion of demand for mobile data, whose revenues jumped 48 percent to P15.1 billion. For broadband, Globe said service revenues jumped 37 percent to P12.4 billion.

Its fixed-line data business also increased 37 percent to P5.5 billion in service revenues, the filing showed. This came as Globe said total operating expenses and subsidy grew by 13 percent year-on-year to P48.7 billion.

Globe said it has so far spent P22.9 billion in capital expenditures this year, mainly to bolster Internet services. Miguel R. Camus