GLOBE President and CEO Ernest L. Cu said in a chance interview that an expansion of its telecommunications services to other Southeast Asian neighbors would be a bit difficult as providers in these nations have already established their names in their respective countries.
Thus, the company must look for other opportunities other than traditional telco services such as text, call and data offerings.
“Majority of the markets we see in Southeast Asia are very saturated and mature. What can be explored as an opportunity is taking our banking product overseas,” he told reporters on Friday.
Currently, Globe operates its flagship mobile-money service called G-Cash through subsidiary G-Xchange Inc. Also, Globe operates a microfinance-focused savings bank called BanKo.
“It is something, perhaps, our mobile-banking product that we have under BanKO and G-Cash, could be applicable,” Cu said.
Like the Philippines, there are a lot of other economies in the region that have a dense number of “unbanked” citizens.
“We think a combination of what we’re doing and what can be localized in those economies may succeed,” Cu explained.
The Asean economic integration will allow for a freer flow of skilled labor, services, investment and goods among 10 member-countries, namely, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Lao PDR and Cambodia.
The telco’s net income stood at P6.8 billion in the first half of the year, a fivefold growth versus the P1.4 billion it recorded in the same period in 2013. Revenues grew by 7 percent to P47.7 billion from P44.5 billion, while expenses rose by a faster 12 percent to P28.62 billion from P25.59 billion.