Globe core net income up 22% to P11.6B

MANILA, Philippines - Globe Telecom Inc. jointly owned by conglomerate Ayala Corp. and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., yesterday reported a 22 percent jump in core net income after booking record-breaking revenues in the first nine months of the year.

Globe president and chief executive officer Ernest Cu yesterday said the company’s core net income reached P11.58 billion from January to September this year or P2.05 billion higher compared to P9.53 billion in the same period last year.

Service revenues grew eight percent to hit a historic high of P72.7 billion in the first nine months of the year from P67.26 billion on the back of revenue increases across all segments.

Revenues from its mobile business went up by six percent to P57.57 billion; broadband business by 16 percent to P9.04 billion; fixed line data by 16 percent to P4 billion; and fixed line voice by seven percent to P2.09 billion.

The telco provider’s operating expenses and subsidy went up by 10 percent to P42.94 billion in the first nine months of the year from P38.96 billion.

This translated to a 198-percent jump in net income to P10.5 billion in the first nine months of the year to P10.53 billion from P3.53 billion.

Globe said its core net income retreated by six percent to P3.99 billion in the third quarter alone from P4.23 billion in the same quarter last year as service revenues inched up by two percent to P25 billion from P24.46 billion bucking the trend of a seasonally lean quarter.

Cost and expenses from July to September declined by three percent to P14.91 billion from P15.43 billion translating to a net income of P3.63 billion or five percent lower than last year’s P3.89 billion.

“We are pleased with our third quarter results which prove that our growth momentum remains intact despite the intensifying competition,” Cu said.

“Our strategy of focusing our efforts towards providing a differentiated customer experience has paved the way for our continued success. We have been consistently growing our mobile business with the solid customer base expansion and the strong demand for our mobile data services,” he added.

 He pointed out that broadband is still a high-growth area with both revenues and customer base growing in double-digit rates.

 Globe’s subscriber base jumped 17 percent to 42.85 million in the first nine months of the year from 36.52 million in the same period last year. Prepaid users grew 18 percent to 40.69 million while postpaid subscribers rose nine percent to 2.16 million.