PT&T hinges 2020 turnaround on people’s need for ‘connectivity’

Broadband services provider Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (PT&T) pointed to positive prospects this year despite the new coronavirus ­pandemic.

After narrowing losses in the first quarter of 2020, PT&T said the outlook “remains optimistic.”

“With our own experience operating during the pandemic, helping clients with their connectivity, digital adoption and transformation needs, we see how digitalization is now a necessity and that we are on the right track with our goal of becoming a leading digital services provider in the country,” James Velasquez, the president and CEO of PT&T, said in a statement.

The company remained operational during the enhanced community quarantine to provide its clients with connecti­vity and IT solutions.

Flexible work arrangements were also allowed for employees, said Concepcion Roxas, PT&T’s chief people and culture officer.

PT&T has a network asset of 14,000 poles equivalent to 13,500 fiber kilometers. This covers almost 40 percent of the total Philippine population in high-growth developing areas.

It added it could expand nationwide network coverage to over 110,000 fiber kilometers through various agreements covering an additional 46,000 poles.

In a filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange, the firm said revenues during the first quarter of the year rose 40 percent to P107.13 million. This helped narrow losses to P15.6 million versus P20.4 million during the same period in 2019. The company said the second quarter of the year, however, was a challenging period due to the lockdown.

“While second quarter results for 2020 are not in yet, PT&T is bracing itself as the upheaval brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has proved that internet access is now considered a basic necessity, and technology a central part of the new normal extending beyond the lockdown period,” the company noted. —MIGUEL R. CAMUS