Globe Telecom Inc. said Thursday net income rose 3 percent in the first quarter of the year, boosted by its mobile and home broadband businesses.
The telecommunications company owned by conglomerate Ayala Corp. said net profit amounted to P4.34 billion in the January-to-March period from P4.15 billion year-on-year.
Globe’s core profit, which excludes the impact of the non-recurring items, one-time gains, foreign exchange and mark-to-market charges, amounted to P4.19 billion in the first quarter from P4.18 billion last year.
“We are pleased that Globe maintained its growth momentum… Even as we face intense industry competition in the months ahead, we remain confident that we can achieve sustainable financial growth moving forward” Globe president and chief executive Ernest Cu said.
Globe posted consolidated revenues of P29.9 billion in the first quarter, up 14 percent from P26.2 billion a year ago.
The second-ranked telecom company said the sustained robust revenue growth was driven by gains across data-related product segments, as complemented by the subscriber growth for both mobile and home broadband.
The year-on-year improvement was likewise aided by the revenue contribution from Bayan amounting to P1.5 billion as of end-March this year.
Even excluding Bayan’s revenues, Globe’s consolidated service revenues increased to P28.5 billion, up 9 percent from the same period last year.
Mobile revenues climbed 7 percent year-on-year to P23.1 billion at end-March from P21.6 billion reported a year ago, driven by the strong revenue performance mostly from the prepaid brands.
Globe’s mobile subscriber base at the end of March reached 57.3 million, up 18 percent from 48.4 million subscribers reported in the same period last year.
Mobile data service revenues continue to soar reaching P9.1 billion in 2016, 62 percent higher than P5.6 billion reported a year ago, given the increasing smartphone penetration, availability of low-priced data capable devices, and Globe’s attractive market-relevant data offers backed by the improved and modernized data-ready network.
The growth in mobile data, however, was partly offset by the decline in mobile voice (domestic and international) and mobile SMS revenues by 11 percent and 15 percent, respectively due to the shift of traffic from core voice and SMS in favor of data which is consistent with global trends.
Mobile data contribution to total mobile revenues now accounts for 40 percent as end-March from 26 percent of the same period in 2015.
The Globe Group’s home broadband business (including Bayan) sustained its growth momentum, increasing both in revenues and subscriber base by 51 percent and 41 percent, respectively.
Total home broadband service revenues reached P3.5 billion as of end-March of 2016, with total subscriber base now reaching 1.1 million.
Globe spent around P7.1 billion in capital expenditures as of end-March of 2016 to support the growing subscriber base and its increasing appetite for data.
Globe to date has a total of 29,008 base stations, with over 18,900 for 4G3, to support the service requirements of its customers.