PLDT says network upgrade, multi-media venture paying off

MANILA, Philippines - Dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) said its P67.1-billion investments to modernize its network as well as its transformation into a multimedia service provider is now paying dividends as evidenced by a series of credit rating upgrades.

PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said in a statement that the decision of New York-based Standard & Poor’s Rating Services to upgrade the company’s outlook to “positive” from “stable” shows that it is gaining ground with its decision to venture into multimedia services.

“This affirms that the company is in the right direction as it evolves into a multimedia services group that is fully prepared for the screen age,” Pangilinan stressed.

The PLDT Group, through wholly-owned subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings Inc., has diversified into various forms of media as part of its diversification. It is a media conglomerate owned by the Beneficial Trust Fund of the PLDT.

MediaQuest owns media establishments such as Associated Broadcasting Co. (TV5), Nation Broadcasting Corp. (NBC), Cignal Digital TV (Cignal), a 30- percent interest in BusinessWorld, 20 percent in The Philippine STAR, 12 percent in the Philipine Daily Inquirer, and a 30-percent stake in the Unitel Group.

It was established in the 1990s and first launched with Home Cable, a direct-to-home cable TV subscription service and second largest cable TV company through Unilink Communications.

On July 1, 2001, Home Cable merged its CATV operation with SkyCable Corp. and created Beyond Cable Holdings Inc. with an enterprise value of P14.5 billion.

Beyond Cable Inc. is owned 66.5 percent by Lopez Holdings and 33.5 percent by MediaQuest. Home Cable ceased its operations on June 30, 2005. PLDT sold its stake in SkyCable to the Lopez Group of Companies in 2008.

In 1998, MediaQuest acquired Nation Broadcasting Corp. from the consortium of the Yabut family and then House Speaker Manny Villar.

In 2007, MediaQuest acquired GV Broadcasting Systems, a direct-to-home satellite provider and radio network from Satventures Inc. of the Galang family. At the same year, it launched myTV as a mobile TV service.

One of the biggest acquisitions was in 2010 when they bought a 75-percent stake in Associated Broadcasting Co. and blocktimer Primedia Inc. from businessman Antonio Cojuangco.

When talks for the possible acquisition of the 79-percent interest of the Gozon, Duavit, and Jimenez families in broadcast giant GMA Network Inc. failed, Pangilinan announced that the PLDT Group would continue its transformation into a multimedia company.

He explained that the termination of the talks with major shareholders of GMA would not stop the company from evolving into a full pledged multimedia service provider.

“The termination of the GMA acquisition initiative is not expected to adversely impact the PLDT Group’s strategy of evolving from a traditional telecommunications company into a multimedia service company,” Pangilinan stressed.

He pointed out that the PLDT Group would continue to pursue multiple platforms with the successful investment in TV5 and Cignal TV.

“The PLDT Group continues to believe that owning, producing and providing content across multiple platforms is an important component of its blueprint for growth,” he stressed.

As such, Pangilinan said PLDT would pursue its media strategy by building on MediaQuest’s current investments in TV5 – the country’s third largest free-to-air television network by audience share and Cignal TV – the leading provider of direct-to-home satellite television services.

PLDT has earlier earned the distinction of being the first Philippine corporate to be given investment grade credit ratings by all three major international credit watchers – S&P, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings.