PLDT Inc., the country’s largest telecommunications company and parent of Smart Communications Inc., said Thursday it received offers amounting to more than P50 billion from foreign tower companies interested in purchasing its 6,000 cell sites nationwide.
“The final bids that we received [for the tower sale] last March 1 is in the north of P50-billion mark,” PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan said in the company’s financial briefing.
Pangilinan said the sale of the towers would provide the company a bit of liquidity and reduce debt moving forward. “The sale that we are looking at is 6,000 towers, broken down into two portfolio or 3,000 each,” PLDT and Smart Communications president and chief executive Alfredo Panlilio said.
Panlilio said six foreign tower companies joined the final bids.
PLDT expects to complete the transaction by the second quarter this year. The company said it slashed its 2022 capex to between P76 billion and P80 billion from P89 billion in 2021.
The company said the lower capex aimed to “achieve positive free cash flow, alongside revenue growth and controlled opex.”
PLDT recoded an all-time high of P185.7 billion in service revenues last year, up from P173.63 billion in 2020.
Net income, which excludes exceptional costs, grew by 9 percent to P26.4 billion in 2021. Telco core income, excluding the impact of asset sales and Voyager Innovations, rose 8 percent to P30.2 billion, ahead of earnings guidance of P30 billion.
“2021 proved to be record-breaking year for PLDT as we delivered all-time highs across the board despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic, calamities and hyper competition,” Panlilio said.
“This exceptional performance sets the foundation for 2022 and beyond as we continue to build on our strengths as an integrated telco and our commitment to serve our customers in the best way possible. With our strategic transformation initiative in place and our evolving fintech ecosystem, we are well positioned to maintain our growth momentum moving forward,” he said.
PLDT attributed the higher service revenues last year to strong Home broadband business, which grew by 24 percent to P47.8 billion.
Enterprise revenues also went up by 4 percent to P42.2 billion, and wireless revenues reached P86.2 billion.
Panlilio said consolidated service revenues were expected to grow by mid-single digit in 2022 and telco core income to settle between P32 billion and P33 billion this year.
Pangilinan said 2022 marks the start of a new era for PLDT.
“Since 2016, we have seen our revenues and profits increase steadily to the point that 2021 revenues were an all-time high and core income has returned to the P30 billion mark—something we have not seen since 2015. But as Al pointed out earlier, all this will be for naught if we do not undertake changes to get better so we can be the best,” Pangilinan said.
“To this end, we are channeling our efforts to improve our free cash flow. The formula is simple enough –increase revenues, rationalize capex, reduce costs and manage our cash position,” he said.
Pangilinan said PLDT was exploring other mechanisms to create value such as embarking on process to monetize the company’s extensive tower network.
“If we stay to our true north, I am optimistic that by 2025, our core profitability will reach even greater heights,” Pangilinan said.