New Bayan Telecommunications head outlines business strategy

MANILA, Philippines - The newly appointed chief executive of Lopez-owned Bayan Telecommunications said the company will offer products and services that are sustainable in terms of capital investments and competitive response.

Fred Bernardo will assume his post as Bayan’s managing director starting Nov. 1, 2009, replacing Tunde Fafunwa who has ended his contract as chief executive consultant last Oct. 31.

Bernardo has been with the Lopez Group of Companies for the last eight years. He worked in the US for 18 years, and was formerly Bayan’s chief finance officer. His previous employers include Citibank and Jardine. He is a graduate of the University of the Philippines and has a post-graduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley.

On his plans and directions for Bayan, Bernardo said they recognize their position in the industry “and we will make our business decisions accordingly.”

“This requires that everything that we do should be market and customer driven to maximize the utilization of our resources and capacity. If this means we have to review our current business portfolio and reallocate our resources, then we will take that direction as long as the results are better for Bayan and its current employees. But this also means that the end state is that we are offering to the market products and services of sustainable quality and acceptability,” he added.

Bayan has trimmed its net loss to P542 million for the first half of 2009, a 66 percent improvement from the P1.59-billion loss incurred in the same period last year.

The company also posted a P182-million operating income in the first half of 2009, from a loss of P133 million in 2008, reflecting a 237 percent growth. 

Bayan officials explained that the growth in operating income was a result of sustained total revenue growth of P3.33 billion in the first half of 2009, or an eight percent increase over the P3.08 billion realized during the same period last year. 

Coupled with prudent operational spending at P2.15 billion reflecting a three percent reduction over the same period last year, Bayan realized a 38 percent growth in its earnings before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) at P1.18 billion compared to P852 million the previous year.

Operating income is the income derived from revenues less operating expenses including depreciation and amortization.  

Bayan’s total customer base reached more than 500,000 nationwide as of the first half of 2009, propelled by the explosive growth of its wireless landline and DSL subscribers, officials said.