PLDT earns P11 billion in Q3

MANILA, Philippines — PLDT Inc. increased its profit to nearly P11 billion in the third quarter on the back of revenue growth from all its business segments, but the firm remains cautious about economic troubles weighing down its operations.

In a regulatory filing, PLDT reported that its net income spiked by 79 percent to P10.64 billion in the third quarter from P5.93 billion a year ago, with revenue outpacing the growth of its spending.

During the period, telco and non-telco revenues jumped by a combined seven percent to P51.53 billion, while expenses grew by just six percent to P39.18 billion.

For the year, PLDT said that its profit has risen by 45 percent to P27.38 billion as of September from the P18.85 billion earned during the same period in 2021. The telco giant saw its revenue go up by six percent to P152.92 billion, while its expenses widened by a fifth to P136.96 billion.

Also, core income – computed as net income adjusted to the net effect of gains and losses from various factors – grew by 10 percent to P25.38 billion from P23.1 billion.

Although PLDT stayed profitable, its executives look to the future with caution due to risks of an economic slowdown.

PLDT president and CEO Alfred Panlilio said the firm is expecting its capital expenditures, set at P85 billion for the year, to increase with the peso depreciating against the US dollar.

“We are watching our capex levels – especially the impact of the weakening peso on our dollar-denominated debts and imported capex – even capex committed in previous years and current ones,” Panlilio said.

“With the disciplined effort led by PLDT’s Transformation Office, we are trying to manage some softness in our topline, as well as tightly control our costs,” he said.

By segment, PLDT Home has reached at least 2.9 million fiber-only subscribers and 3.24 million fixed broadband customers as of September. On the other hand, PLDT Enterprise registered a record P12 billion in revenues in the third quarter backed by the recovery of business activities.

Likewise, PLDT individual saw its revenues top P20.4 billion to push the yearly total beyond pre-pandemic levels at P61.7 billion. PLDT’s wireless subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. said its data users have reached 41.6 million as of September with average usage climbing to 8.8 GB a month.

Despite the risks, PLDT vowed to materialize its investments on network upgrades, widening its fiber footprint to 1.09 million kilometers, made up of 860,000 kilometers in domestic fiber and 231,000 kilometers in international fiber.

The telco has also built an additional 1.29 million fiber-to-the-home lines, raising its capacity to 5.9 million as of September.