PLDT eyes BayanTel, GMA Network

With core earnings nearing the P30-billion mark and debt levels down to more manageable levels this year, telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has switched on the investment mode, looking at prospective acquisitions like rival Bayan Telecommunications (BayantTel) and broadcast company GMA Network to make PLDT the undisputed leader in "triple play" or the merger of voice, video, and data.

While Benpres Holdings has already disclosed that PLDT and Globe Telecom are interested in acquiring Lopez-owned BayanTel, PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan would neither confirm nor deny the statement of the Lopez group, but nevertheless said that "in the end, everything depends on the price."

Pangilinan, however, hinted an interest in Bayantel, saying that PLDT has been buying provincial telephone companies like Maranao Telecom, Subic Telecom and has managed others.

"BayanTel could be one investment we could look at – if the price is right, and if it makes sense for the group.

But why not? They have a very good data business," he said, adding that BayanTel is present in certain areas of the country where PLDT is interested to beef up its presence.

Without its huge debt burden which has recently been the subject of a restructuring agreement, BayanTel would have been an easy target for corporate raiders, with its 300,000 subscribers, increasing EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) which has grown 57 percent in 2004 compared to 2003, and strong data business revenues.

Meanwhile, Pangilinan’s group continues to be in talks with the owners of GMA 7 for a possible investment in the country’s most profitable broadcasting company. He noted that video has increasingly become an important element of any telco’s future.

"Be it GMA 7 or another company, we don’t know yet. And that’s some time in the future. Right now we’re focused on achieving our 2005 targets," he added. Pangilinan also pointed out that as broadband becomes more imminent, video has become a more important element of the so-called triple play of voice, video and data.