Globe jacking up 2018 capex guidance by $100M

Telco giant Globe Telecom is ramping up capital spending this year to meet growing demand for internet services and to sustain profit growth, a company statement showed.

This comes amid a 140-percent surge in combined 3G and 4G data traffic that Globe recorded in the first six months of the year. This was partly due to a 9-percent increase in its mobile subscriber base to 65.1 million during the period.

“With data traffic continuing to be robust, we are accelerating our capex guidance by $100 million this year to further develop our network infrastructure,” Globe CEO Ernest Cu said in a statement.

The figure was equivalent to a third revenue, Globe said.

Globe earlier this month said its full-year capital spending budget would increase to $950 million from the original $850 million.

Globe had said the spending would mainly go to its fixed and mobile networks, including 4G and the rollout of 5G scheduled by the second quarter of 2019.

Globe said on Aug. 8 that core profit in the first semester of the year increased by almost 29 percent to P10.3 billion as service revenue rose 7 percent to P67.3 billion compared to the first half of 2017. Mobile data revenues alone hit P24.7 billion during the first half of 2018.

Its consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) for the period hit P33 billion while Ebitda margin stood at a whopping 49 percent.

Globe said revenue at its home broadband unit amounted to P8.6 billion as it lured more subscribers through its fixed wireless internet packages. Its total home broadband subscriber base stood at over 1.5 million, up 22 percent.

Globe’s corporate data business posted P5.3 billion in revenues during the first half of the year.