Globe H1 profit flat despite record-high revenues from mobile biz

Globe Telecom Inc. booked flat first-semester earnings as declines in the home broadband segment offset growth in the mobile and corporate data businesses.

In a stock exchange filing on Wednesday, the Ayala-backed telecommunications giant said earnings during the period rose by 1 percent to P14.54 billion.

Excluding nonrecurring items, core net income expanded by 18 percent to P11.7 billion.

Revenues inched up by 2 percent to P82.2 billion.

This, as mobile business increased by 7 percent to a record P58.4 billion on “effective market repair initiatives and sustained network quality.”

The segment accounted for 71 percent of Globe’s total revenues, up from 68 percent in the same period last year. Its total mobile customer base was at 59.5 million as of end-June.

Mobile data revenues likewise hit a record-high P48 billion, up by 9 percent, as Filipinos became increasingly attracted to online activities, such as e-commerce apps, media streaming and social media.

Corporate data revenues rose by 8 percent to P9.8 billion on higher contributions from information and communications technology and core data services.

“We are happy that our financial performance for the first half of the year remained robust,” Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu said.

On the downside, home broadband revenues slipped by 6 percent to P12.1 billion due to lower fixed wireless services.

Its home broadband subscriber base dipped by 21 percent to 2.2 million as customers shifted to the “more dependable” wired connectivity.

Globe noted that capital spending in the first semester declined by a quarter to P28.3 billion as the company worked to improve its balance sheet.

Around 91 percent of the capital outlays were spent on data requirements, Globe said.

The company built 352 cell sites, upgraded 1,942 mobile sites and deployed 256 new 5G sites across the country during the period.

5G coverage within Metro Manila reached 98.45 percent, while key cities in the Visayas and Mindanao reached 94.19 percent.

For its tower deals, Cu said they had already transferred 88 percent of the company’s 7,506 tower assets to buyers, allowing it to cash in P85.2 billion in total.

Financial technology arm Mynt, the operator of e-wallet app GCash, more than doubled its earnings to P2.1 billion.According to Globe, this was due to GCash becoming the “preferred choice for digital financial services.”

Last week, Globe announced that the Ayala Group’s AC Ventures Holdings Inc. would acquire an additional 8-percent stake in GCash for P22.9 billion, increasing its ownership share to 13 percent.