OWING to constant increases in data usage in the Philippines, Globe Telecom Inc. may hike its $850-million capital requirements for 2018 to further expand its network’s coverage and capacity, its president said last Friday.
In a chance interview, Globe President Ernest L. Cu said his group has seen remarkable growth in data usage every quarter. This is expected to further accelerate as more and more Filipinos adapt to the digital lifestyle.
“Our data usage grows 20 percent every quarter, and we’re expecting it to grow even further. We announced a spending of $850 million, but we will likely to go beyond that this year because the data growth is really beyond expectation,” he said.
Cu did not elaborate, but added that the company may announce the new 2018 budget by the third quarter of the year after further evaluation.
During the first quarter of 2018 alone, the company saw mobile data traffic reaching 180 petabytes from 131 petabytes the year prior, which translates to a 37-percent surge.
One petabyte is equal to about 3.4 years of 24/7 full high-definition video recording.
The company is currently on track to fulfilling its commitment to deploy LTE services nationwide by the end of 2018, using the 700 megahertz and 2600 MHz frequencies, soft assets that it earned from co-acquiring the telco business of San Miguel Corp. two years ago with rival PLDT Inc.
“Data growth is happening because people are buying data packets and people want to have good data packs,” Cu added.
Mobile data is the driver to Globe’s top line, which reached P33.6 billion in the first quarter, or about 6 percent higher than the P31.1 billion it recorded last year.
For the first three months of the year, mobile data already emerged as the top contributor to the P25.5-billion total mobile revenues of Globe, accounting for 48 percent—surpassing voice and text.
The trend is expected to continue as smartphone penetration in the country is projected to grow to 70 percent in 2018, from only 40 percent in 2015.
Just recently Globe, together with The Walt Disney Co. in Southeast Asia, introduced DisneyLife app, an avenue that will elevate its data-usage business.
Shares in Globe closed at P1,533 apiece last Friday, up by about 0.2 percent, or P3 from P1,530 each, last Thursday.