Globe Telecom says capital investments slash first nine mo. net income 

Globe Telecom Inc., a joint venture of Ayala Corp. and Singapore Telecom, reported Thursday a 19-percent drop in net income in the first nine months of the year, saddled by expenses incurred by a $700-million network modernization and transformation program.

 

Net income totaled P6.808 billion, down P1.186 billion from P7.994 billion a year earlier.

 

“Consolidated net income after tax stood at P6.8 billion as of end-September this year, down 15 percent from almost P8 billion in the same period last year, driven by the continued investment in subscriber acquisitions and network and IT infrastructures,” the company noted in a statement.

 

Capital expenditures jumped 16 percent to P16 billion from P13.9 billion in the same comparable period.

 

Consolidated revenues rose by 6 percent to P61.3 billion from P57.7 billion, reflecting strong performance of mobile, broadband, and fixed line data services.

 

Globe’s mobile subscribers rose 10 percent to 32.1 million. 

 

Social networking boosted demand for Internet connectivity, driving growth in the telco’s broadband business that was supported by advanced technology for better Internet connection speeds.

 

Globe said broadband subscribers surged 20 percent to over 1.6 million –from 1.4 million – as of end-September.

 

“Despite the very challenging competitive environment, our business remains fundamentally strong,” said Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu. 

 

 

The company is gearing for stiff competition. “… We are prepared for the challenge and will be in a much better position to deliver overall enhanced value to our stakeholders upon completion of our network upgrade and with the new capacities coming onstream,” Cu noted. — VS, GMA News