PLDT shelves plan to get partner for Voyager

Telco giant PLDT Inc.’s plan to bring in a foreign strategic partner for unit Voyager Innovations Inc. has taken a backseat, its top official said.

PLDT chair and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan told reporters last week that Voyager, best known for its PayMaya mobile wallet service, would continue to grow its business without the help of a new partner in the meantime.

Pangilinan earlier said he was hoping to seal an agreement with a strategic investor within the first quarter of 2018.

“We are assuming, at least for the moment, we will not have a strategic partner so we will proceed with our own plans for Voyager,” he said.
He did not comment on the status of the talks, but he said it was unlikely an agreement would be sealed within 2018.

He nonetheless cited continued gains among Voyager’s companies, which lean heavily on fintech and e-commerce.

“That was done without any strategic partner,” he said.

Voyager competes with businesses held by Globe Telecom’s Globe Fintech Innovations. Last year, Globe lured Chinese tycoon and Alibaba founder Jack Ma into this venture.

Orlando Vea, CEO of Voyager, said last week that the company had grown its subscriber count and volume over last year. He did not provide specific figures.

Vea added that Voyager continued to evaluate new markets in Southeast Asia for expansion opportunities. He said the target was still to enter new markets within the region in 2018.

Voyager reported revenue of P1.24 billion last year, representing a gain of 70 percent year-on-year, PLDT’s annual report showed. The gains were due to an increase in transactions via the PayMaya platform.