PLDT Inc. is aiming for a wider penetration of its home broadband business in Luzon and is reaching new areas for growth in Visayas and Mindanao.
“The Group is anticipating PLDT Home to grow its revenues at an accelerated pace as it adds more fiber customers, with the market still underpenetrated at approximately 20 percent, compared with up to 50 percent penetration in the Asian region,” said Alfredo Panlilio, PLDT and Smart Communications Inc. president and chief executive officer.
In 2021, PLDT Home reported a record-high 1.13 million new fiber subscribers, exceeding its original target of 1 million and bringing PLDT’s total fixed broadband customers to nearly 3 million.
“This exceptional performance sets the foundation for 2022 and beyond as we continue to build on our strengths as an integrated telco and our commitment to serve our customers in the best way possible,” said Panlilio.
The PLDT Group has identified imperatives to reach 2022 targets, with PLDT Home expected to ramp up installations to serve untapped markets, fast-track completion of migration for the remaining copper customers to fiber, and continuously improve in terms of operations using automation.
PLDT Home averaged 107,000 installations per month in the fourth quarter, slightly lower than the third quarter due to Typhoon Odette’s impact and to seasonal slowdown, the telco said.
However, it averaged 35,000 monthly copper-to-fiber migrations for the quarter, the highest among all quarters, adding 326,000 net of fiber installs, PLDT added.
This growth is further strengthened with the PLDT Group’s aggressive rollout of its fiber network, which was at 743,700 kilometers as of end-December 2021.
“We have high expectations that the PLDT Home business will continue its strong performance given the latent demand, as well as our improved service metrics and the upcoming conclusion of our copper migration campaign,” Panlilio said.
For this year, PLDT earmarked between P76 billion to P80 billion as capital expenditure with the bulk allocated for the expansion of its data network infrastructure. – Myla Iglesias
