At the Globe annual stockholders meeting!

Makati: Once more the Cebu media, together with our counterparts from the Visayas and Mindanao trooped to the Intercontinental Hotel in Makati for the Annual Stockholder’s meeting of Globe Telecom. This was the biggest delegation of media from outside Metro Manila that I have seen so far since I started attending Globe’s annual stockholder’s meeting many years ago.

Globe Chairman of the Board of Directors Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala (JAZA) gave a recap of Globe’s performance for the year 2009 which can be summarized in one sentence:”This growth was achieved despite a weaker economy and continued intense competition.” Consolidated revenues were pegged at P62.4 billion compared to the P62.9 billion that Globe earned in the year 2008. All told, the performance of Globe is a good indicator of the economic stability of the country, vis-à-vis the economic problems that many rich western nations suffered for the year 2009. Proof that the Philippine economy fare much better than most of the western nations.

What’s remarkable is Globe’s Return on Equity (ROE) rate that hit a record-high of 26%, marking the fourth consecutive year that Globe achieved ROE’s in excess of 20%. Thus Globe paid its shareholders a total of P15.1 billion in cash dividends for the year 2009. Contrast this to the Auto companies in Japan or in the US where they all lose huge revenues, some even got to the brink of bankruptcy!

JAZA pointed out that the mobile industry has reached a saturation point with a less than significant 1.1% growth, while Broadband has exploded into a 79% growth. With more than 50 million Filipinos owning a cellphone from all the Telco companies having mostly a prepaid account, the competition has become fierce. Thus Globe President & CEO Ernest Cu pointed out that subscriber loyalty has become a key factor in this highly competitive industry. Thus he says, “From a utility company, we have become a serviced oriented company.”

The next battleground will be on broadband services; there Globe has joined the Southeast Asia-Japan Cable System (SJC), which will link the Philippines to Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and Hong Kong and thus increase their capacity and boost the resiliency of Globe’s international network. Indeed, as the telecom industry subscribers mature, more and more people will be connected to the Internet where quality of its transmission is paramount. I asked Pres. Ernest Cu if they would now shift to higher Internet speeds in their Broadband Internet, but it seems that the focus at this time is about spreading the Wi-Fi to affordable levels, while high Internet speeds like what SkyCable is offering is a very high-end business.

Finally, we discussed that all the Telcos have come up with so many plans and promotions to boost customers’ needs and loyalty, but in the end, many are now confused because of the so many plans being introduced to both postpaid and prepaid subscribers. This is true not only to Globe, but to their competitors as well.

Globe now has come up with it’s “My SuperPlan” the first and only fully customizable plan from a Telco, where you need only to pay for the services you need and even change your plans on a monthly basis depending on your current needs. Like what we said, Globe’s business performance is a good indicator of the Philippine economy. Let’s hope that things will improve after the May 10 elections.

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Now its out in the open that House Speaker Jose Nograles has bolted out of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD and shifted alliances to Sen. Manny Villar. There is no doubt that this was a very unexpected move. But this was borne out of personal necessity because Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has always been with Sen. Noynoy Aquino. Now whether Rep. Nograles can keep his Congressional seat we will know after the May 10 elections. For sure, when the still formidable in numbers Lakas Congressmen win their respective seats, you won’t be seeing a Rep. Nograles as Speaker of the House.

So how many more turncoats are we going to see? I’m sure that many more will be lured by the vote-buying campaign of Villar. The fact that there are still a huge number of undecided voters in all the surveys that I have seen is clear proof that these people are waiting to see the “Manna” from heaven.

Talking about heaven, I read in the local papers a few days ago that my good friend Lito Ruiz said that it was “Divine Providence” that made his wife, Rep. Nerissa Soon-Ruiz bolt out of the Lakas and into the fold of Villar. Let me just advise Lito about that old Chinese proverb, “Less talk, less mistake, more talk, more mistake.” Divine Providence is a blessing from God, which can come in the form of money; many pundits say that came from Mr. Moneyman Villar himself. It’s still money vs. morals in this story!