Globe Telecom Inc., the second-biggest telecommunications firm, on Thursday said net income rose 86 percent in the first quarter of the year, boosted by its mobile business and one-time gain from the partial sale of its data center business.
The company, a unit of the Ayala Group, said net profit reached an all-time hight of P13.7 billion in the January-to-March period, higher than P7.3 billion reported a year ago.
Core net income, which excludes the impact of non-recurring charges, and foreign exchange and mark-to-market charges, ended at P5.1 billion in the quarter, down from P7.4 billion last year.
“We are pleased with our performance in the first quarter, as the top-line growth momentum was sustained. We saw encouraging results particularly in the mobile business as the government continuously eased pandemic restrictions and the economy opened up,” said Globe president and chief executive Ernest Cu.
“We are likewise optimistic about the growth prospects for the new ventures in Globe’s expanding portfolio. We believe that our ceaseless innovation through various digital platforms, backed by the growing investment in our data network will strengthen our leadership in the digital space,” he added.
Globe started the first three months of 2022 with a new record-high consolidated service revenue of P39.2 billion, up 4 percent from P37.8 billion reported a year ago, and even surpassing pre-pandemic levels.
Mobile business revenues as of end-March grew 2 percent to P26.88 billion from last year’s P26.3 billion, mostly coming from the prepaid brands.
Total mobile revenues comprised 69 percent of the total service sales, with total mobile subscriber base now reaching 87.4 million, or 10 percent higher from the year earlier.
Earnings from home broadband business, however, posted a 4-percent drop to P7 billion from P7.4 billion last year, though still better than pre-pandemic levels.
Globe attributed the decline in broadband revenues to the transition and migration of the broadband subscriber base to fiber.
Corporate data revenues posted an 18-percent growth to an all-time high of P3.9 billion from P3.3 billion a year ago.
Out of the P89-billion capital expenditures this year, Globe spent a total of P21 billion in the first quarter of the year. The capex for the quarter went to data-related requirements to handle the surge in demand for digital services and provide a higher level of digital experiences for its customers nationwide.