PT&T on track to resume trading this semester
PT&T Corp. may soon resume trading its shares on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) after a two-decade hiatus, allowing it to beef up its coffers for expansion plans.
James Velasquez, president and CEO of PT&T, in an interview last week in Makati City, said they were aiming to return to the local bourse within the first half of this year.
“We’re on track. The plan is to be able to do that within the year,” he said.
For now, Velasquez said they were still securing regulatory approvals.
“But I would say 90 percent of what we need to do has been completed. We’re at the tail end,” he said.
The telecommunication player disclosed in April last year its plan of resuming its trading.
PT&T filed for voluntary trading suspension on Dec. 13, 2004, because it could no longer meet the reportorial requirements of the PSE amid financial challenges.
P9B for expansion
The company has since erased its capital deficiency and even received fresh funding. In 2023, the company announced that it had increased capitalization by nearly P9 billion to fund its expansion, which includes the rollout of fiber optic infrastructure to scale up its footprint.
Tapping the equity market again will also bode well for the company that will require additional funding for its expansion plans.
This year, it is set to build a “multimillion-dollar” software laboratory in Makati with Australian technology partner Netlinkz Ltd.
Netlinkz has a cybersecurity software that provides real-time response against threat actors and network monitoring, among others.
Velasquez said that there is a “big market” for cybersecurity solutions in the country amid the proliferation of digital threats.
According to a study by Kaspersky, about 17.7 million threat incidents were traced in the Philippines last year, affecting 36.8 percent of its users.
A successful cyberattack can disrupt the operations of an enterprise, which can translate to potential financial losses.
PT&T is currently present in Metro Manila and the southern Tagalog region, but it is also working on expanding to the north.
