PT&T plans to reactivate stock listing

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp. (PT&T) is planning to reactivate its listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) within the current fiscal year as it looks to increase clients, as well as grow earnings and revenue.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, PT&T said it wants to accomplish the reactivation of its listing on the PSE within the year.

The firm, which listed at the PSE in 1990, requested for voluntary suspension of trading of shares on Dec. 13, 2004 as it was unable to meet reportorial requirements.

Last month, PT&T announced the acquisition of 70 percent of its shares by investment firm Menlo Capital Corp. or the group of Nickel Asia Corp. founder Salvador Zamora II and businessman Benjamin Bitanga, from Republic Telecommunications Holdings Inc.

Following the acquisition by the group of the 70 percent stake, PT&T is looking to grow the number of its clients, as well as earnings and revenue.

At present, PT&T offers products including leased broadband lines with speeds up to 1 Gbps and point-to-point connectivity for private networks to enterprise clients including the National Bureau of Investigation, Novotel, Malayan Bank, Asia United Bank and Splash Philippines.

“In the upcoming fiscal year, management is focused on increasing the number of such enterprise clients across key business districts within Metro Manila, where PT&T already has key network infrastructure and last mile capabilities present. A commensurate increase in sales and customer service personnel is also expected during this period,” PT&T said.

In the two years to follow, PT&T said it expects an earnings surplus to be used to expand its fiber backbone in key cities in Luzon and Visayas, as well as to increase the service footprint in the residential market.

For small and medium enterprises and the residential market, PT&T offers Greendot, a shared line broadband service with speeds of up to 300 mbps.

It added any future partnerships or fund raising activities to occur are intended to expedite its plan of expanding its coverage to include more cities and achieve greater last mile density.