MVP ready to quit PLDT post

PLDT Inc. chair and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said he would be ready to cede day-to-day management of the telco giant should earnings remain on its current stable path.

Pangilinan spoke about succession during PLDT’s quarterly briefing on Thursday as the company announced a 6-percent gain in service revenue to P76.6 billion while core earnings, the basis of dividend payments, were flat at P13.2 billion in the first semester.

Pangilinan said he might remain the company’s head until the first half or third quarter of next year.

“If I feel we are achieving some steady state in terms of growth and stability in revenue and profitability is healthy for PLDT, then there is no reason for me to stay,” Pangilinan said of the role he assumed at the start of 2016.

He stopped short of naming a successor. A front-runner for the job is PLDT chief revenue officer Al Panlilio, who was also named president of Smart Communications Inc., PLDT’s flagship wireless subsidiary, on Thursday.

Pangilinan signaled on Thursday that PLDT’s revenues were beginning to achieve stability. A traditional drag to its revenues, the international business, would approach breakeven by the end of 2019 while wireless revenues were on the rise.

PLDT announced first semester consumer wireless revenues—a key indicator—jumped over 20 percent to P34.4 billion. This came as mobile subscribers rose 15 percent to 66.8 million and data traffic doubled on the back of video streaming and gaming promos.