PLDT Inc. expects 2017 to be a tough year for its wireless business amid intense competition.
“It’ll be a tough year especially on the wireless side of the business. For fixed lines we are optimistic in terms of enterprise and home,” PLDT chairman and chief executive officer Manuel Pangilinan said over the weekend.
Pangilinan said revenues of the fixed line business were likely to grow by double digits next year.
“For wireless business its still in discussion in terms of revenue picture for 2017,” he added.
Pangilinan said the company would meet its core net income guidance of P20 billion and reported net income between P27 and P28 billion this year.
PLDT, partly owned by Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd. and Japan’s NTT group, booked a net income of P15.87 billion in the first nine months of the year, down 37 percent from P25.34 billion year-on-year.
Pangilinan had described the financial result as “annus horribilis,” or a horrible year.
Core profit, which excludes foreign exchange gains or losses and other non-recurring income, fell 20 percent to P21.74 billion in the first nine months of the year from P27.08 billion.
Consolidated revenues also declined 2 percent in the ninemonth period to P125.39 billion from last year’s P127.87 billion.
The consumer wireless business group posted service revenues of P55.8 billion, down 5 percent from the previous year. Mobile internet revenues jumped 37 percent while wireless broadband increased 13 percent.
Revenues from voice and SMS services fell 15 percent and 14 percent, respectively. This stemmed from a 5 percent reduction in subscribers count on aggressive unlimited voice and SMS offers by competition.