PLDT on track to meet P37-B core profit guidance

PLDT’s fourth quarter net profit is “most likely better than the third quarter,” Napoleon L. Nazareno, the listed telecom company’s president and chief executive officer, told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Makati City on Thursday night.

PLDT made P7.94 billion in the three months ending September, down 14.4% from P9.27 billion during the same period a year ago. It has so far booked P27.9 billion in net profit and P28.6 billion in core income for the January to September period, down 3% and 1% respectively from year-ago levels.

PLDT, according to Mr. Nazareno, is “on track” to hit its already recast P37 billion full-year core profit guidance.

That profit goal was a revised number from an earlier announced P39.5 billion. The changes were prompted by lower earnings, which PLDT attributed to “intensification of competition which was felt significantly during the quarter,” Mr. Nazareno had said during PLDT’s quarterly financial briefing in Makati City on Nov. 4.

Last week, the company official said prospects for the fourth quarter should be better.

“Fourth quarter is usually the best quarter for us, because there’s normally an uptake in mobile broadband during the Christmas season,” Mr. Nazareno said.

“However, with the free internet, it might be tempered a little bit,” he added.

PLDT has mobile broadband subscribers of 3.7 million as of end-September, its latest financial report show. That’s 330,483 more than end-2013’s 3.4 million subscribers.

About 2.7 million of that total are wireless broadband subscribers, and the rest, fixed line.

Smart Broadband, Smart Communications, Inc.’s wireless broadband service offered through its wholly-owned subsidiary Smart Broadband, Inc., had a wireless broadband subscriber base of nearly 2.1 million at the end of the period, about 1.6 million of whom were on Smart Broadband’s prepaid service.

In addition, Sun Cellular, a brand owned by Digital Mobile Philippines, Inc. that is a wholly owned subsidiary of Digital Telecommunications Philippines, Inc. (Digitel), had a wireless broadband subscriber base of close to 600,000.

Meanwhile, PLDT’s fixed broadband subscribers increased by 11% from the end of 2013, bringing the total fixed broadband subscriber base to 1.1 million for the first nine months of 2014, and now represent 48% of the fixed line subscriber base.

Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., PLDT’s parent, announced on Nov. 9 that it is allocating about P36 billion in fresh capital outlay next year for its Philippine-based telecom unit.

Mr. Nazareno said on Thursday that his company is “still finalizing it [budget], but definitely higher than last year’s.”

PLDT’s capital expenditure (capex) for this year is projected at P34.5 billion, also revised from an earlier projection of P32 billion.

A “higher capex level for 2015 than this year” would be warranted to outdo the competition, he said.

“We are fast-tracking our data capacity build-out due to the positive response to our free Internet promo as well as our TD-LTE (Time-Division Long-Term Evolution) build-out to meet increasing fixed wireless data demand. In light of the market’s continued appetite for data services, we expect higher capex,” Mr. Nazareno said.

New broadband player offers satellite-based service

The operator of the Global News Network (GNN) is launching next month a satellite-based broadband service.

Philip J. Chien, chief executive of First United Broadcasting Corp (FUBC) last week said the company is spending at least $5 million to roll out the service called “iGSat Satellite Broadband” next month.

FUBC, which runs GNN and a direct-to-the-home (DTH) satellite TV service, has partnered with Newtec, which specializes in designing, developing and manufacturing technologies for satellite communications, for the rollout.

"This latest technology will support the grassroots program of the government and private firms to cover the entire Philippine society for communication, information and education. The technology will be available anywhere, everywhere. It is limitless and beyond boundaries," Chien said.

"This project will not be in competition with the present providers but will be a great support in areas where there is slow or no available bandwidth at all," Chien added.

iGsat offers a range of solutions for the broadband user, comprising of satellite connections for the home, business, private network and maritime communications as well as Internet service providers (ISPs).

The service is based on Newte'c technology, which provides local ISPs with the broadband connection they need to offer reliable, high-speed and always-on Internet access to users through a wired or wireless (Wifi) connection.

"Newtec is proud to partner with First United Broadcasting Corp.'s iGsat Broadband service in the Philippines. Our technologies continue to offer high performance in the most economical way and remain at the forefront of pushing satellite broadband to areas where any connectivity was not previously thought to be possible and we are doing this at a competitive price," Serge Van Herck, Newtec's chief executive, said.

Globe scores NBA partnership

Globe Telecom has become the official wireless and broadband partner of the National Basketball Association (NBA), extending the league’s reach to the telco’s 45 million mobile and broadband customers.

The partners will be launching NBA-related promotions and premiums starting with the introduction of the NBA League Pass. Exclusive to Globe subscribers, it lets users watch games live and on-demand through multiple devices and access to play markers and statistics.

Additional NBA video content will be streamed through Globe’s new PisoMall video platform, another service exclusive for all Globe and TM customers optimized for both feature phonesand smartphones.

The deal is newest “world first” Globe has been focusing to accomplish in the last two years and a half. Among them are key partnerships with Facebook, Google, Viber and Spotify.

“Our partnership now puts the best sports experience in the world in the palm of every Filipino’s hands,” Bithos, chief operating advisor at Globe, said.

“At Globe, we are hands down the digital leader in the Philippines.  We love bringing ‘world’s firsts’ to customers and our partnership with the NBA takes our digital experience to a whole new level,” he adds.

The NBA said that the multi-year partnership with Globe marks another milestone in a landmark year in the Philippines, which saw the introduction of the first Jr. WNBA program in the country, the launch of the world’s first NBA Cafe, the announcement of the first NBA Store in the Philippines and, most recently, the NBA’s multiyear partnership extension with local broadcasters ABS-CBN and Solar Entertainment.

“We are excited to welcome Globe into the NBA family,” said Scott Levy, NBA Asia Managing Director.  “The NBA shares Globe’s commitment of enriching the lives of Filipinos and, through this new partnership, Globe will have a presence across all areas of the NBA experience and bring the game closer to our millions of fans throughout the country.”