INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
PLDT Inc. registered flat earnings in the first nine months of the year as its core businesses saw modest growth, reflecting a highly competitive environment as new players entered the telecommunications race.
The Manuel V. Pangilinan-led telco giant said in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday that its net income in the January to September period had ended at P28.1 billion, up by 1 percent.
Telco core income likewise went up by 2 percent to P26.6 billion, which excluded the impact of asset sales and losses from financial technology arm Maya Innovation Holdings.
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Total revenues inched up by 3 percent to P160.94 billion. This was mostly composed of service revenues, which ended nearly flat at P144.9 billion.
“We’re not entirely happy with our revenue growth this year,” Pangilinan, PLDT chair and CEO, told reporters in a media briefing. Still, he noted they were on track to meet their P35-billion full-year earnings target.
“We’re quite optimistic that this will be a good year for PLDT, but we have to do better next year,” Pangilinan added.
Broken down, data and broadband increased by 3 percent to P120.4 billion, accounting for 83 percent of service revenues.
The individual wireless segment under Smart Communications saw revenues rise by 2 percent to P62.1 billion.
Mobile data revenues, which contribute 89 percent to the segment, grew by 5 percent to P55.2 billion.
As of end-September, active data users reached 41.2 million, with average data usage per subscriber at 11.6 gigabytes, up by 7 percent.
PLDT’s flat earnings can be attributed to the entry of new players, according to AP Securities Inc. research analyst Cholo Ramirez.
“We’re unlikely to see explosive growth from PLDT given that the industry is already mature and a highly competitive market,” Ramirez said in a message, noting robust growth in Converge ICT Solutions Inc. and Dito Telecommunity.
But he echoed Pangilinan’s sentiments on meeting the company’s P35-billion target for the year, given robust growth in its mobile data and fiber businesses —Meg J. Adonis