3M subscribe to PLDT broadband

The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. yesterday said that subscribers to its broadband service exceeded three million in the first quarter. Napoleon L. Nazareno, PLDT and Smart president and CEO, said that the company will continue to offer services priced depending on what the subscriber wants. Nazareno said PLDT leads the market, with revenues from broadband and internet increasing 34 percent to P5.8 billion in the first three months of the year. The PLDT group accounts for 65 percent of the market, he said. Nazareno said he expects to increase profitability by higher volume-based offers and fair usage policies. PLDT plans to offer services that subscribers can resell. It will also offer variants of products differentiated by “speed and price points such as the fiber-to-the-home and bundled products such as WiFi service outside the home for DSL subscribers and direct-to-home or DTH content packages in addition to our fixed line service,” Nazareno said. PLDT’s broadband business contributes 14 percent of consolidated service revenues. Of the total broadband revenues in the first quarter, PLDT DSL generated P2.6 billion, up 15 percent compared with the same period last year. Smart Communications Inc. generated P1.7 billion in revenues from its wireless broadband services while the Digitel group contributed P800 million. Smart’s mobile internet revenues for the first quarter of 2012 increased 71 percent year on year to P600 million.