SMC telecom unit posts P1.52-B net loss in 2012

San Miguel Corporation and Qatar Telecoms Group's joint venture Liberty Telecoms Holdings Inc. registered a net loss of P1.52 billion in 2012, according to the company's annual report submitted to the Philippine Stock Exchange. It is still an improvement over the company's P1.68-billion loss in 2011, buoyed as it was slightly by higher revenues from its broadband business. In 2012, revenues grew 10 percent to P587.43 million from P532.09 million in 2011 due to an increase in subscribers to the company's wireless broadband service through the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WIMAX) broadband of its subsidiary Wi-Tribe Telecoms Inc. Expenses decreased by 7 percent to P1.94 billion from P2.09 billion in 2011, while other charges rose 69 percent to P170.42 million from P100.95 million on the back of a 130-percent surge in finance costs and charges, primarily due to interest expenses from notes payable and additional interest-bearing advances from related parties. Assets increased 20 percent to P1.15 billion while liabilities rose 33 percent to P4.92 billion. The company incurred losses of P7.52 billion in 2012 and P6.06 billion in 2011 from operations in the process of rolling out its WIMAX broadband network—losses that the company said “should be expected, considering that its business operations are essentially still in the start-up stage.” — BM, GMA News