PLDT Inc. is now looking at the fixed line business as the new battleground for the telecommunication industry.
“The battleground has shifted from wireless to fixed. And that plays to our strength because we have the most extensive fixed network infrastructure. We are for example aggressively bringing fiber to the home, which today can already reach 2.5 million homes in different parts of the country,” PLDT chairman and chief executive Manuel Pangilinan said.
PLDT has over 140,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables, the most extensive fiber infrastructure in the country.
PLDT service revenues from the fixed line business increased 7 percent to P46.8 billion in the first nine months from the previous year, amid the strong growth in home and enterprise businesses, while most telcos around the world were posting declines in their fixed line units.
The company said its enterprise business unit grew revenues by 10 percent to P24.4 billion. Data and broadband services already account for 59 percent of PLDT’s fixed line revenues, up from 57 percent in the first nine months of 2015.
The company’s mobile phone revenues, however, fell 5 percent to P58.4 billion in the first nine months as text and voice revenues declined due to stiff competition and the ongoing consumer shift to data-based messaging services.
Pangilinan earlier described 2016 as “annus horribilis” which means a horrible year after PLDT lost about 3 million subscribers in the third quarter to P65 million from P68 million in the second quarter of the year.
Rival Globe Telecom gained 4.1 million subscribers to 65.4 million in the third quarter from 61.3 million subscribers in the second quarter.
Yolanda Crisanto, Globe’s senior vice president for corporate communications, said the “real battle is on data” and how effective telecommunication companies could actually monetize data.
Crisanto said data covers all segments, including home, corporate and mobile.
Globe’s mobile revenues rose 1 percent to P68.26 billion in the third quarter, driven by mobile data revenues, which grew by 34 percent.