At the Globe Telecom annual meeting

When I attended the Globe Telecom annual stockholders meeting at the Manila Intercon last April 12, 2011, there was a pall of uncertainty because of the prospect that Smart/PLDT was going to acquire Digitel Communications, which would make them the undisputed largest telecom provider in the country. Yesterday, however, when we once more joined the annual Globe Telecom stockholders meeting, also at the Manila Intercon, we learned that the revenue results that Globe Telecom chairman Jaime Augusto Ayala reported on the floor was a surprisingly remarkable, or should I say unexpected, P35.1 billion and an all-time high in operating revenues of P71.6 billion which is 9% more than the previous year.

This gives you and idea that even if your competitor tries to gobble up the entire market, if you work hard enough, you will still enjoy hefty revenues. Today, SIM penetration has reached a record 97% of the total Philippine population, which means only 3% of the population doesn’t have a cellphone. Globe’s market share is 35.9% while Smart and Sun combined is 64.0% of the country’s population. What we have today is a two-player market in the Telecom Industry.

Globe chairman Jaime Augusto Ayala said Globe sustained its momentum despite the weak market and eventually resulted in a superior shareholder returns inroads against competition with revenue market share growth with voice and data traffic outpacing revenue growth. He attributes this to Globe’s modernization program and a shift to multi-technology platform pushing to 4G and an improved network quality that enhances customer experience through call quality and, more importantly, reliability.

Globe President Ernest Cu said telecom firm gave a detailed expansion of sales channels including network of new concept stores, significant improvements in, and faster time to market for new products. With 780,000 retailers of Globe giving business all over the country, it has resulted in enhanced service and loyalty offers to address customer’s diverse needs. All this resulted in a core net income P10 billion. Finally, we learned that Globe Telecom would be moving its headquarters from its present site in Pioneer St. Mandaluyong to Fort Bonifacio in the year 2013. Things are moving up.

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It’s become an annual thing for media from the Visayas and Mindanao to get invited to the Globe Telecom’s annual stockholders meeting at the Manila Intercon. But before the meeting last Monday we got a special treat in the sense that it was the first time for most of us to be given a tour of Binondo. Yes, we were bused to Chinatown and got a tour of the Old Manila. The last time I went to Chinatown was a couple of years back when I joined my son-in-law, Atty. Jennoh Tequillo, for a meeting and we ended up having dinner there.

Perhaps it is time you asked yourself, “When was the last time you went to downtown Manila?” When I was growing up, learning the ropes of the business, my late father, Atty. Jesus “Lindong” Avila would bring me to the different film offices, MGM, Warner Bros and Universal Pictures, which had their offices in Avenida and in Escolta. It was then that I met and became good friends with Mr. Johnny Litton of “Oh no! It’s Johnny” fame as his office in Mever Films was on top of the Avenue Hotel in Avenida. Lunch for us was always in Ongpin in those days.

But the Visayas and Mindanao media tour was not just a city tour; it was truly a Chinese culinary trip for we got to taste certain Chinese dishes that you could never find anywhere in Metro Manila or even in Cebu. You should try this when you go to Manila in your next trip.

Meanwhile, speaking of cellphone technology, the Visayas and Mindanao media also had a briefing by Nokia’s Communications officer Nikka Abes at the Ascott Hotel where she gave us a glimpse of the new cellphones dubbed “Lumia.” She showed us the Nokia Lumia 900 and the Lumia 610, which is supposed to be faster than the other smartphones as they are now Windows based phones.

I have always been a Nokia guy since 1994 when I dropped my Motorola flip phones for a Nokia 5110 (which is one of the sturdiest phones I ever owned). Up to two years ago, my cellphone was a Nokia E-71 and a Nokia Commander E-90, which I still have. But with my failing eyesight, I needed a phone that I could read even without glasses. Alas the fonts on Nokia phones then were very small even if you already set it at large.

Hence, I replaced it with a Blackberry Bold two years ago. But then my Blackberry experienced problems and I had to hold on to it until a replacement phone would be available. So two weeks before Holy Week, I got my first Korean cellphone, a Samsung Galaxy Note N-7000, though it took some time to tune it to my standard, thanks to my friend Bernard Sia.

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