PLDT broadband earnings up 32%

Broadband and other Internet services remained among the fastest-growing revenue contributors to Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) in the first semester of the year, making up for the slowing growth in traditional call and text earnings.

In a statement, PLDT said its broadband and Internet business ended the first half with a 32-percent year-on-year growth in revenues to P11.6 billion. Total subscribers reached 3.1 million as of the end of June, according to PLDT president and CEO Napoleon Nazareno.

Nazareno said he was bullish that broadband revenues would grow even more as smartphones become more affordable to a broader segment of the population.

“The large population of overseas Filipinos, high literacy rate, popularity of the social networks and our relatively young domestic population underpin the robust demand for broadband connectivity,” Nazareno said.

The wireless broadband revenues of the PLDT Group improved by 42 percent to P5.98 billion in the first half compared to year-ago level. Of this amount, Smart contributed P3.3 billion.

For Smart alone, the mobile Internet revenues, which come from subscribers who access the net using their mobile phones, grew by 63 percent to P1.2 billion in the first half from a year ago.

PLDT DSL had the biggest contribution to the firm’s broadband and Internet revenues at P5.2 billion in the first six months of the year, up by 13 percent year on year.