As broadband subs grow, PLDT’s ICT biz falters

Top dog PLDT has announced its 2010 financial and operating results which showed that its SmartBro wireless broadband service continued to expand its wireless broadband subscriber base to over 1.35 million at the end of 2010, over 925,000 of whom were on prepaid service. Wireless broadband revenues continued to grow strongly, up 17 percent to P6.3 billion, compared with the P5.4 billion recorded in 2009. Moreover, mobile Internet browsing usage has been growing at a fast clip, with revenues increasing by 37 percent, from P530 million in 2009 to P725 million in 2010. Wireless broadband revenues now account for 7 percent of wireless service revenues. PLDT said Smart’s 3G and fixed wireless broadband networks now cover 52 percent and 62 percent of the country’s population, respectively. Fixed line service revenues, however, decreased by 5 percent to P48.6 billion in 2010 from P51.1 billion in 2009 as the strong peso impacted the business unfavorably. Data and DSL revenues generated from third parties, nevertheless, continued to post strong growth of 16 percent. Data service revenues contributed 45 percent of the fixed line’s service revenues as compared with 42 percent in the same period last year. Fixed Line broadband subscribers grew by 83,000 to over 640,000 at the end 2010 from 560,000 at the end of 2009. PLDT DSL generated P8.3 billion in revenues in 2010, up 17 percent from P7.1 billion in 2009. Meanwhile, the group’s information and communications technology (ICT) business reported service revenues of P10.7 billion in 2010, a decline of 2 percent from 2009. With 70 percent of their revenues being dollar-denominated, the ICT business’ results were particularly hard hit by the appreciation of the peso. Had the peso remained stable, service revenues for the period would have increased by 2 percent year-on-year, the company said. Prospects for the reorganized SPi Global Holdings are particularly encouraging with the projected expansion of both its new and existing customer base, the company added. “Now that we have recalibrated the focus of ePLDT and SPi, we are looking forward to a banner year from both entities," stated Napoleon Nazareno, president and CEO of PLDT and Smart. — Newsbytes.ph