PLDT: 2022 goal within sight as 9-mo profit rose 45%

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT). AFP FILE PHOTO

Enterprise and home business segments, along with a one-time gain from the sale of towers, lifted PLDT Inc.’s net income by 45 percent to P27.4 billion in the January to September period.

On Thursday, the Pangilinan-led telco reported that its core income climbed by 10 percent to P25.4 billion during the nine months in review, making them on track to meet the full-year guidance of P33 billion.

Total revenues were up 6 percent to P152.92 billion.

Enterprise revenues rose by 9 percent to P35.2 billion as the economy further reopened. This segment’s growth was supported by sales in fixed data and fiber broadband, managed networking services, wireless solutions, data center and cloud.

Service revenues generated from the home segment improved by 21 percent to P42.7 billion as PLDT Home’s fiber subscribers grew by 489,000 to 2.9 million as of end-September.

“This supports our view that there is still growth in what remains to be an underpenetrated market, albeit future revenues will likely come from regional areas where rollout is needed and from lower market segments,” PLDT and Smart Communications president and CEO Alfredo Panlilio said.

PLDT also received P57.7 billion in cash from its P77-billion sale and leaseback deal for 5,907 telco towers. About 75 percent of these towers have already been transferred to the buyers, with the remaining expected to be handed over before the end of the year.

PLDT chair Manuel V. Pangilinan said they were planning to sell more next year but only after the conclusion of the current sale and leaseback deal. No additional details were provided.

Under review

Panlilio said PLDT’s P85-billion capital expenditure (capex) guidance was under review as the company was expected to exceed spending due to foreign currency translation and investment for additional networks, among others.

“We are also watching our capex levels, especially the impact of the weakening peso on our dollar-denominated debts and imported capex, even capex committed in previous years and current ones,” Panlilio explained.

PLDT currently has a 1.09 million kilometer fiber footprint, the bulk of which is accounted for by its domestic network. This covers the needs of about 16.8 million homes across the country.

Last month, PLDT announced the start of the construction of the $75-million multicountry venture Asia Direct Cable, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

The cable system will increase international network capacity by at least 36 terabytes per second.