Globe expects mobile subscribers to exceed 26 million by yearend

MANILA, Philippines - Globe Telecom expects its mobile subscriber base to exceed 26 million by yearend.

Company president and CEO Ernest Cu said they have recovered since the time they started cleaning up their subscriber base in 2009. The clean-up focused especially on prepaid subscribers that do not top-up loads, commonly encountered with subscribers with multiple prepaid SIMs.

He also said that Globe will be aggressive on promos especially on prepaid, even as he noted that there has been a shift from high-value prepaid to postpaid subscription.

Cu also revealed that they have revitalized Globe prepaid through aggressive all network call and text offers and IDD services.

This as the company reported that it continued to add more subscribers, posting double-digit growth in its mobile subscriber base as of end-September 2010 on the back of attractive offers for both the prepaid and postpaid segments.

As of end-September 2010, the company’s subscriber base reached 25.4 million, up 10 percent from last year’s 23.1 million, with year-to-date total net additions of 2.2 million.

“Despite a maturing mobile market, we continue to attract new business owing to our attractive offers, and healthy partnership with the device manufacturers. We have sustained our growth momentum, especially with the past four quarters. We will continue to focus on what our customers want as their preferred service provider,” Cu said.

The postpaid segment closed the quarter with over 980,000 subscribers, up 16 percent year-on-year. Net postpaid subscriber additions hit a seven-year high, with net additions of more than 70,000 in the July to September period alone, surpassing full-year net additions in 2009. Postpaid subscribers contributed over 27 percent of the total mobile revenues.

Company officials attributed the growth to the firm’s innovative postpaid plan offers My Fully Loaded Plan and My Super Plan, more compelling loyalty programs, robust partnerships with two of the world’s most coveted device brands, BlackBerry and Apple, and the revolutionary Flagship Store in Greenbelt 4 which continue to draw in more customers and postpaid activations since its launch last June.

Meanwhile, the prepaid segment closed the third quarter of 2010 with 24.4 million subscribers, up 10 percent from about 22.2 million a year ago. The TM brand led the increase in this segment, comprising 80 percent of total net acquisitions, with over 11 million subscribers as of end-September 2010. On the other hand, Globe Prepaid subscribers grew three percent year-on-year to about 13.4 million subscribers.

In the past few months, Globe launched more innovative prepaid offers, like SuperAll Txt 20, which allows subscribers to send 200 messages to all networks for only P20 a day, as well as TM Unlicombo, which offers all-you-can intra-network calls between 10 pm to 5 pm the following day and unlimited text service for also P20 a day.

Globe said it is moving aggressively to entice more subscribers with longer-running, value-for-money promos and offers. The company has likewise enhanced its device lineup to respond to the changing habits and usage of mobile phone users.