Telecom sector thrives

One industry that has thrived amid the challenges brought about by the pandemic is the telecommunications industry.

And why not? Next to shelter and food, a good internet connection and our mobile phones were probably third in our hierarchy of needs ever since COVID-19 struck two years’ ago. Life became bearable even when we found ourselves stuck at home working or studying because doing these tasks online, watching Netflix and YouTube videos, and keeping in touch with loved ones and friends virtually allowed us to have a sense of normalcy.

PLDT says that against the backdrop of a highly competitive landscape, it has managed to outpace industry rivals in the fiber, mobile and fixed-wireless businesses.

The company reported a P10.6-billion year-on-year increase in service revenues during the first nine months, which it noted was significantly higher compared to other industry players.

Adding a record 324,000 fiber customers in the third quarter ending September with a market-leading fiber customer count of 2.09 million, PLDT’s fiber-to-the-home business delivered record-breaking growth for the third quarter, surpassing its nearest competitor by 100,000 net adds for fiber.

PLDT’s Home broadband revenues of P31.5 billion is also almost double that of its competitor, it said.

Company officials said that having already gained 802,000 new fiber subscribers in the first nine months, PLDT Home is on track to exceeding one million net new fiber subscribers this year.  Total fiber capacity of PLDT Home now stands at 5.29 million fast broadband ports after the completion of 1.23 million fiber ports in 2021.

Continuing initiatives to actively migrate its copper subscribers to fiber has brought PLDT’s total fixed broadband subscribers to 2.77 million, they added. This does not include Smart’s broadband wireless subscribers whose fixed wireless alone has already breached the one million mark subscriber mark, increasing 24 percent compared to end-2020.

Meanwhile, PLDT’s mobile business Smart Communications served the most number of mobile data users in the country at 40 million.

PLDT and Smart Communications president and CEO Al Panlilio emphasized that while on the whole it has been a great nine months, there is a lot more left to be done even as they look forward to ending the year very strong, and accelerating further next year.

PLDT and Smart continued with their network buildout, bringing total capital expenditures to P63.3 billion for the first nine months, even as both are on track to meeting the 2021 full-year capex guidance of at least P88 billion.

For its part, Globe Telecom reported higher earnings in the first nine months of 2021, driven by sustained demand for its broadband services that offset a modest growth in its mobile business.

Globe’s home broadband business posted P22.4 billion in revenues during the Jan. to Sept. 2021 period, up 15 percent year-on-year due to high demand from its subscriber base which rose to 3.7 million during the period. Its data traffic from home prepaid Wifi went up 79 percent in the last three quarters.

However, its mobile business, which accounted for 69 percent of total service revenues, posted a one percent topline growth at P78.3 billion as renewed lockdowns dampened mobile data consumption. Its nine months’ revenues from mobile voice and SMS dropped 14 percent and 17 percent year-on-year.

Globe’s nine-month capex was at P65.4 billion, surpassing last year’s investments of P60.3 billion.

Another player in the residential fixed broadband business, Converge ICT Solutions, reported that it added almost 280,000 subscribers in the third quarter, bringing its total residential subscriber count to 1.6 million or 75 percent more compared to the same period last year.

The company said that as of end-September, its nationwide network reached more than 9.6 million homes, allowing it to accelerate its target to cover 55 percent of Filipino households by 2023 or two years’ ahead of its original 2025 schedule.

Next time though, we hope to see telcos comparing their internet download and upload speeds vis-à-vis subscription prices. PLDT earlier reported that it continues to record the fastest average speeds based on Ookla Speedtest data.

Not so Hidden agenda

WCK DONATES TO ORPHANAGE: Continuing its commitment to help the underprivileged members of society and orphans, last Oct. 29, the Wong Chu King Foundation (WCKFI) donated sacks of rice, bottled water, powdered milk, canned goods, biscuits, vitamins, and hygiene kits to the Bethany House Sto. Nino Orphanage in Barangay Tabe, Guiguinto, Bulacan. WCKFI is in coordination with several orphanages in the country and is committed to support the less privileged members of the society. The foundation has been proactive in fulfilling its vision of fostering a compassionate society and is always ready to lend its hand to the vulnerable sectors of society.

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