Globe net income down 8.4 percent in 3rd quarter
MANILA – Globe Telecom has announced its net income fell by 8.4 percent to P2.39 billion in the third quarter from P2.61 billion in the same period last year.
In the first nine months, the Ayala-led telco said its consolidated net income amounted to P7.4 billion compared to P9.9 billion in the same period last year.
Excluding foreign exchange and mark-to-market gains and losses as well as non-recurring items, core net income stood at P7.1 billion as against last year’s P9.4 billion.
Globe’s consolidated service revenues for the nine months amounted to P45.8 billion, slightly down 2 percent against last year’s P46.9 billion.
Globe’s total subscriber base stood at 25.4 million as of end-September.
Revenues from the broadband and fixed line data businesses sustained their double-digit year-on-year growth of 84 percent and 18 percent, respectively, which partly offset the 8 percent decline in mobile revenues.
“We are seeing encouraging improvements this quarter,” Ernest Cu, president and chief executive of Globe, said.
Cu said the company posted four consecutive quarters of growth in its mobile subscriber base, following the clean-up it did last year.
“Mobile postpaid growth continues to be strong, and this quarter’s postpaid net adds are at a seven-year high, despite a maturing market,” Cu said.
He added that broadband is still a high-growth area and revenues continued to grow at double-digit rates, “with our pioneering WiMAX service becoming an increasingly important growth driver,” Cu said.
“It is still a challenging market, but the growth momentum is there. Our strategy of focusing on the customer is starting to reflect in the numbers. There is no one silver bullet in this highly competitive industry, but we are committed to seeing through our transformation initiatives to gain revenue share and adapt to this quickly evolving market,” Cu said.
For the broadband business, meanwhile, revenues rose 84 percent year-on-year from P2.2 billion to P4.1 billion driven by the rapid expansion of the company’s subscriber base which rose from about 517,000 a year ago to over one million this period.
As a percentage of total service revenues, the broadband business increased its share from last year’s 5 percent to 9 percent in the nine months ended.
Earlier this year, the company launched a prepaid version of Globe WiMAX to further accelerate subscriber growth and to appeal to a broader market of at-home internet users. Globe also launched the Globe Tattoo MyFi, an all-in-one wireless router that enables users to share their internet access with up to five WiFi-capable access devices within a radius of 30 to 100 meters.
The company’s fixed line data revenues from the corporate and enterprise sectors also continued to grow at a robust pace, closing the period with service revenues of P2.6 billion, higher by 18 percent compared to last year.
Through its Globe Business unit, the company develops various products and connectivity solutions to help businesses, including those in the Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing industries, establish and grow their operations.*PNA
