PLDT fixed-line revenues drop 7% in first sem 2011

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) reported a seven percent drop in fixed line service revenues for the first six months of this year, to P23.5 billion from P25.2 billion in the same period of 2010.

The strong peso is one of the reasons for the continued plunge of this particular service.

“Had the peso remained stable, service revenues would be higher by P300 million” said PLDT president Napoleon Nazareno.

On the other hand, fixed line broadband subscribers grew by 15 percent to nearly over 699,000 at the end of June 2011 from about 609,000 at the end of the same period last year.

PLDT DSL generated P4.6 billion in revenues in the first half of 2011, up 13 percent from P4.0 billion in 2010.

Anticipated declines in ILD, and NLD and LEC continued with their combined revenues of P11.9 billion for the same period, lower by 7.0 percent compared with the P12.8 billion in the first six months of 2010.

Fixed line EBITDA (Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) margin was lower at 49 percent for the first six months of 2011 compared with 50 percent for the same period in 2010 but higher than the 47 percent margin for the full year last year.

“We have sharpened our focus on customer value by re-organizing ourselves along customer lines rather than technology as can be gleaned from the recent announcements of our “Home and “Alpha” segments. In addition, we continue to launch various new initiatives a week that target different sectors of the market, “said Nazareno.

Meanwhile, PLDT group’s Information Communications Technology (ICT) arm, reported service revenues of P5.4 billion for the first half of this year, an increase of three percent from the same period last year.

Data center revenues continued to grow with a 15 percent improvement over the comparable period in 2010.

Knowledge Processing Solutions increased 10 percent on the back of higher contributios from the Content Solutions and Healthcare divisions.

Revenues from the Customer Relationship Management or call center business declined nine percent, having been negatively impacted by the Peso’s appreciation.

ICT’s revenues are 68 percent dollar-denominated, had the peso remained stable, service revenues for the period would have increased by P200 million, said Nazareno.

EBITDA for the ICT business increased by 29 percent to P979 million in the first half of 2010 as compared with P756 million in 2010m as a result of the growth in service revenues and lower cash operating expenses.

EBITDA margin a 18 percent for the first half of 2011 was higher than the 14 percent recorded in the comparable period last year.

ICT revenues account for eight percent of PLDT’s consolidated revenues.

“SPi is streamlining its operations further to allow for greater focus on its core competencies—we therefore expect even greater improvement in their results in the coming months,” Nazareno said. (FREEMAN)