PLDT Inc. is expecting a double-digit growth in revenues this year despite the Taal Volcano eruption and the coronavirus outbreak affecting the business landscape.
PLDT’s consolidated service revenues rose 8 percent to P157.7 billion in 2019, the highest full year revenue it has attained in the last eight years.
Manuel Pangilinan, PLDT chairman, president and chief executive officer, said he expects 2020 to be better than last year.
“The numbers are looking good for the first two months, first few days of March is looking better for PLDT. We are quite optimistic that 2020 will be a better year for us than 2019. So we are hoping for double-digit growth in revenues this year, despite the coronavirus and Taal (eruption),” Pangilinan said in a press briefing.
PLDT reported its net income (which includes exceptional costs) jumped 19 percent to P22.5 billion in 2019, from P18.9 billion in 2018, driven by the robust growth of its data services.
Its telco core income (which excludes the impact of asset sales and Voyager Innovations) climbed 13 percent to P27.1 billion.
For this year, PLDT has allocated a larger capital expenditure (capex) budget of P83 billion, of which P64.6 billion is earmarked for network and IT projects to support the explosive growth in data traffic.
In addition, P18.5 billion, inclusive of P5.5 billion carried over from 2019, is to be spent for broadband installations, which are projected to grow strongly in 2020.
“This (higher capex) will allow us to serve better the fast-growing data usage of our customers and continue to provide superior data CX (customer experience),” Pangilinan said.
Consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) grew 22 percent year-on-year to P83.1 billion, excluding Manpower Reduction Program expenses of P3.3 billion, driven by higher service revenues and lower cash operating expenses. The EBITDA margin improved from 45 percent in 2018 to 52 percent in 2019.
In terms of major business units, PLDT said the consumer wireless group led the way, boosting revenues by 20 percent to P72.1 billion. The enterprise group grew revenues by 5 percent to P39.2 billion, while that of PLDT Home rose 3 percent to P37.2 billion.
These three business units combined accounted for 94 percent of service revenues and registered 11 percent revenue growth year-on-year, PLDT said.
It added that data and broadband services continued to power revenue growth, rising 20 percent to P105.2 billion and now account for 67 percent of total revenues.
PLDT declined to give its outlook for the year, noting heightened uncertainties caused by unforeseeable developments at home such as the Taal volcano eruption, and abroad such as the COVID-19 outbreak.
“At this time, given the prevailing uncertainties, it is difficult to provide specific earnings guidance for 2020. We shall provide firm numbers when we have a better view of developments in the coming months. Our dividend policy remains, providing a regular payout amounting 60 percent of telco core income,” Pangilinan said.
PLDT expanded its fixed network rollout by 15 percent, with 7.2 million homes passed by end-2019. Its total capacity increased 34 percent to 3.5 million ports, of which about 1.8 million fiber/VVDSL ports were available for new customers.
The total footprint of PLDT’s fiber optic network grew 32 percent to 322,400 kilometers — the country’s most extensive digital backbone/transport network infrastructure.
PLDT wireless unit Smart Communications Inc.’s mobile network further increased its coverage and data service capacity. Its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or 4G base stations grew by 51 percent to about 24,600, and augmented the number of 3G base stations by 19 percent to 13,800.
As a result, Smart’s mobile coverage expanded to 94 percent of the country’s population by end-December 2019.
