Globe reports return of revenue to pre-pandemic level

MANILA, Philippines—Publicly-listed Globe Telecom on Friday (Nov. 12) said that its revenues have returned to levels not seen since the start of the COVID-19 crisis as of the end of September thanks to a surge in demand for internet connectivity and a steady mobile business.

In a statement, the Ayala-controlled telecommunications firm said it closed the first nine month of 2021 with a robust consolidated service revenue of P113.6 billion, beating last year’s revenue by 4 percent, and 3 percent higher than the same period of 2019 before the pandemic.

“This quarter’s service revenues of P38.1 billion is the second highest in Globe’s history, breaching the P38 billion quarterly revenue level since the fourth quarter of 2019,” the company said.

It explained that rising data consumption and broadband use remains the biggest driver for this period’s improved income. Total data revenues accounted for 80 percent of total service revenues from 76 percent last year.

Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said he was happy to report “a resurgent business performance in the third quarter, with the topline now back to pre-pandemic levels, despite the continued economic and public mobility challenges, and competitive industry environment.”

The company’s core net income for the period — which excludes the impact of non-recurring charges, and foreign exchange and mark-to-market charges — stood at P18.3 billion, up by 17 percent from P15.6 billion reported in same period of 2020.

Mobile business remained stable and grew by 1 percent year-on-year, mostly fueled by higher prepaid top ups given consumer’s heightened need to maintain connectivity. This revenue improvement was also achieved despite the fact that Metro Manila was placed again under hard lockdown last August to curb the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant.

Total mobile revenues comprised 69 percent of the total service revenues, with total mobile subscriber base now reaching 84 million, or up 7 percent year-on-year.

Its home broadband business benefitted from the growing demand for high-speed, reliable and affordable internet connectivity. As of end-September 2021, home broadband revenues posted a record P22.4 billion, exceeding the same period of 2020 by 15 percent.

The accelerated fiber rollout already yielded positive results with the increased take up of lines of 240 percent and fiber revenues growing by 169 percent against a year ago.
Compared to the same period in 2019 or before the COVID-19 outbreak, home broadband revenues likewise grew by 39 percent.

TSB