Filipino telco PLDT Inc. has reported that consolidated service revenues grew by a record 9% to PHP45.0 billion (USD905.6 million) in the three months ended 30 June 2021, up from PHP41.3 billion in 2Q20, while 1H21 services revenue improved by 8.5% to PHP89.9 billion, driven by data and broadband, which rose by 16% year-on-year to PHP68.3 billion. Trumpeting its strategy to lead ‘the charge’ in the deployment of fibre broadband and 4G/5G technologies, the operator said consolidated EBITDA hit an all-time high in 1H21, climbing 8.0% on an annualised basis to PHP46.6 billion with an EBITDA margin of 51%. Further, the telco’s core income rose 10.0% y-o-y to PHP15. 2 billion which it said keeps in on track to reach its full year guidance of PHP30 billion.
PLDT spent PHP41.3 billion in January-June 2021 for capital expenditure projects, the bulk of which was for network upgrades which resulted in a total of 11.3 million homes passed by its fibre broadband network at end-June, up 11% from a figure of 10.2 million the previous quarter. The total broadband subscriber base reached 3.451 million at end-June 2021, up 6% quarter-on-quarter and compared to 2.609 million in 2Q20.
Meanwhile, it said it had added 2,800 new 4G BTS in the three months under review, lifting the total to 34,700 (with plans to upgrade a total of 4,000 in FY21), on top of deploying 500 3G BTS to take the total to 16,700, and rolling out a total of 4,800 5G BTS – up from just 500 at the start of the year. At 30 June 2021 the carrier said its combined 2G/3G/4G coverage served 96% of the population, with a total of 71.686 million mobile subscribers at that date, including some 520,000 using its 5G network.
PLDT aims to spend between PHP88 billion and PHP92 billion in CAPEX for the full year.