THE largest telecommunications firm in the Philippines expects to net more than P9 billion this quarter, a forecast driven largely by the company’s broadband and mobile businesses.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) President and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno said initial figures for the third quarter show that the firm’s bottom line is on track with its P39.5-billion profit guidance for the year.
“The third quarter is doing well. It is normally the lean quarter. Our bottom line is on track, and the growth is driven by our data, broadband and voice segments,” he said.
He noted his firm is hoping that its text messaging business would be “more stable now.”
In the third quarter last year, the dominant carrier was able to grow its bottomline by about 2 percent, to P9.27 billion on the back of higher services revenues and lower depreciation charges.
The firm’s net income for the first nine months of 2013, meanwhile, stood at P29 billion, a 2-percent hike, from P28.4 billion in the same period the year prior.
The firm’s net income stood at P20 billion in the first semester this year, a 2-percent increase, from the P19.7 billion it booked in the same period in 2013. In the same comparative periods, consolidated service revenues grew 3 percent to P85.43 billion, while expenses rose by a faster 6 percent to P62.52 billion from P59.11 billion.
“We are on track on the guidance figure, which is P39.5 billion in full year,” Nazareno said.
The dominant telco launched late last week an offering aimed at enticing prepaid subscribers to shift to the digital space, a move that is seen to further expand the telco’s subscriber base and mobile data businesses.
The firm, which carries mobile brands Smart, Talk ‘N Text, and Sun Cellular, on Friday started offering a free Internet service to all its prepaid subscribers. The offer is not limited to Facebook, as against the competitor, but is expanded to include web sites of its partners and Google.
The offer is limited, however, to 30 megabytes of surfing daily, which could run through a smartphone’s LTE technology. Certain limitations on the promo were also set.
The offer was launched by the telco to further gain footing in the mobile-data space, as the country shifts from the regular call and text services to the digital arena. PLDT Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said the telco has been preparing for this kind of service, saying that its infrastructure could keep up with the expected influx of subscribers who will take advantage of the promo.
Rival Globe Telecom Inc. belittled this offering, claiming to have pioneered the free Internet service through networking site Facebook.
Globe will relaunch its free Facebook promo starting this week to counter the expected uptick in its rival’s subscriber base. The seemingly cut-throat maneuver of Globe, which also called the data cap of Smart as “insufficient,” and Smart’s new offering were welcomed by a party-list lawmaker.
Rep. Neri J. Colmenares of Bayan Muna said the offers are a breath of fresh air for subscribers who are limited to the call-and-text services of the two telcos, but slammed the duo for snubbing the National Telecommunications Commission’s order of reimbursing their customers for excessive fees.
“Mobile phone subscribers would be happier if Smart and Globe would now refund the overcharge for text messages,” he said. He was referring to the P8-billion refund case that the two telcos are now facing.
The assumption cost of P8 billion ballooned as of September, from P7 billion as of May this year.