PLDT Inc. yesterday said mobile internet traffic for its three mobile brands Smart, Talk ‘N Text and Sun Cellular reached 1.1 exabytes or 1106 petabyte in the first nine months of the year, twice as large as the volume recorded in the same period last year.
This boosted mobile service revenues by 20 percent year-on-year to P52.6 billion. Mobile internet revenues, in particular, grew 47 percent to P34.5 billion.
PLDT said this helped increase the share of data and broadband to its total service revenues to 66 percent, compared with 60 percent share in the same period last year.
It attributed the surge in mobile data traffic and revenues to the combined impact of the continuing improvements in the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) mobile network of its mobile unit Smart Communications Inc. and success of its data-centric offers.
“Given the superiority of our LTE networks, our customers can pursue their digital passions and enjoy the best online video and mobile games experience,” said Alfredo Panlilio, president and chief executive officer of Smart and executive vice president and chief revenue officer of PLDT.
Building on this success, Smart also stepped up activities to meet the rising demand for mobile games among Filipinos, including support for The Nationals, the first franchise-based eSports league in the country, and for the Philippine National eSports team Sibol, which will compete in the Southeast Asian Games in December.
PLDT’s total fiber footprint is now more than 307,000 kilometers nationwide which also supports Smart’s mobile network.
PLDT said Smart’s ramped up rollout of its 4G and 3G base stations across the country has continued to improve its mobile service quality and coverage, and has increased its total 4G base stations to about 21,700 nationwide.
