Globe earnings in first quarter rose 3% to P7B
Globe Telecom Inc. saw tempered bottom line growth in the first quarter as the Ayala-backed telco grappled with a challenging market environment, although strong digital services provided some optimism.
In a statement over the weekend, the telecommunications giant said its net income in the January to March period rose by 3 percent to P7 billion on higher equity earnings from Mynt.
The parent firm of popular e-wallet GCash contributed P1.8 billion to Globe’s earnings. This represented an 86-percent surge as it grew its user base.
Mynt accounted for 22 percent of Globe’s pretax net income, up from 11 percent in the same period last year.
The planned initial public offering of GCash is among the most-awaited this year. However, the company has yet to file for its stock market debut.
“The growth in net income, healthy margins and rising contributions from Mynt are a testament to our disciplined and effective execution,” said Carl Raymond Cruz, the newly installed president and CEO of Globe.
At the same time, tight competition and shifting customer behavior resulted in a 3-percent dip in gross service revenues to P39.9 billion.
Mobile segment
Broken down, the top line of the mobile business declined by 3 percent to P28.3 billion, accounting for 71 percent of total service revenues.
Mobile data traffic slipped by 5 percent to 1,537 petabytes, entailing less usage due to limited mobility.
According to Globe, work and class suspensions triggered by high heat index levels and the transport strike during the period may have redirected data usage to fixed broadband networks.
As a result, mobile data revenues were flat at P24.1 billion. Still, Globe noted that the adoption of mobile applications remained widespread, thus preventing a steeper decline.
As of end-March, mobile data contributed 85 percent to total mobile revenues, up from 82 percent a year ago.
Meanwhile, home broadband revenues reached P5.8 billion. This was a 5-percent drop on the back of customer migration to fiber services.
The number of home broadband subscribers grew by 6.4 percent to 1.83 million.
Corporate data revenues likewise slipped by 2 percent to P4.9 billion. This was amid a slowdown in core data services, which fell by 15 percent.
Globe spent P8.5 billion during the period to fund its network expansion. As of March 31, the company had built 487 new cell sites and upgraded 3,940 existing mobile sites.
Globe deployed 235 new 5G sites across the country. 5G coverage reached 98.71 percent in the National Capital Region and 97.97 percent across key cities in the Visayas and Mindanao.
