FILE PHOTO: A logo of Globe Telecom is seen at a Globe service center in Edsa, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, May 7, 2018. Picture taken May 7, 2018. REUTERS/Dondi Tawatao
Globe Telecom Inc. is banking on the tech-savvy youth to drive the mobile segment, projecting around 11 million new customers in the next five years.
Darius Delgado, Globe’s chief commercial officer, said the young population of the country presents a good opportunity for market growth moving forward.
“In the next five years, we estimate around 11 million new customers joining the mobile base, entering the highly-saturated market with a mobile-first mindset,” Delgado said in a statement on Friday.
As of September, the telco giant has 60.2 million mobile subscribers.
This segment has been mainly contributing revenues to Globe through data consumption. In the first three quarters, mobile data revenues rose by 9 percent to P72.9 billion as more Filipinos tend to use their mobile phones when accessing the internet.
READ: Phishing scam uses Globe Telecom’s official SMS channel – CICC
Mobile data traffic during the nine months rose to 4,843 petabytes from 4,360 petabytes last year.
Consequently, traditional mobile voice and short-messaging service revenues dropped by 5 percent and 13 percent, respectively, given the shift to internet-based communications like social media and video-conferencing platforms.
As for the enterprise segment, Delgado said that businesses had been adopting digital solutions, albeit slower compared to consumers, to make their operations more efficient.
“There’s a lot of awareness and education that needs to be built in terms of how ICT (information and communications technology) and certain business solutions can help make their operations more effective, more efficient and more pervasive, so they can fully harness the potential of their businesses and improve the customer experience,” the Globe official said.
READ: Globe Telecom secures P3-billion credit from BPI
To support both segments, Globe has been beefing up its telco infrastructure, spending P41 billion in the first three quarters for its capital expenditures.
It built 684 new cell sites and upgraded 2,723 existing mobile sites as of end-September.
The telco giant deployed additional 378 5G sites during the period.
As a result, the 5G coverage in the National Capital Region has reached 98.51 percent. The technology enabling faster internet connection is also now available in 94.91 percent of key cities in Visayas and Mindanao.