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After PLDT president and CEO Manny Pangilinan said that competitors “pull down” the Philippines’ internet ranking, Globe Telecom CEO Ernest Cu responded that “it’s not all about speed.”
At Globe’s 1st quarter earnings briefing, Cu, asked to comment on Pangilinan’s statement, cautioned against making “sweeping statements” such as that.
“I will be very careful about making statements given that we are in a similar position [with PLDT] as legacy telco, given the fact that they compete with an upstart like Converge – an all-fiber company,” Cu said on Friday, May 7.
“It would be very difficult to say they would pull the speeds down when on average, the speed of an all-fiber network will be faster than a hybrid network that PLDT and Globe have,” Cu added.
As he made his point across, Cu said: “It’s not all about speed. It’s really about what you should experience.”
“Frankly, I don’t know if you would feel the difference between a 40-Mbps (megabits per second) network and a 30-Mbps network.”
According to Ookla’s global speed ranking for March, the Philippines ranked 81st for fixed broadband and 86th for mobile, with average speeds of 46.25 Mbps and 25.43 Mbps, respectively.
Cu on Friday dissuaded the public from its “fixation on speed,” as he also admitted that the Philippines’ average is not that fast.
“Speed is not only the determinant of customer experience. After a certain speed, just like the top speed of cars, it becomes irrelevant. What’s more relevant is it gets you where you’re going,” the Globe CEO said.
“As Joel [Agustin] mentioned, Netflix has mentioned us a few times for having a better video experience. In some areas, we have better availability and better consistency experience,” Cu said.
On 3rd telco player DITO Telecommunity, Cu said he has “yet to see them in the market.”
In April, independent mobile analytics firm OpenSignal recognized PLDT wireless arm Smart Communications’ leadership in 4G coverage, speed, and experience. Smart beat rival Globe Telecom in those areas from January to March, according to OpenSignal’s monitoring.
Also in April, Globe and PLDT claimed to be the market leader for mobile data and fixed broadband, respectively, both citing Ookla’s Speedtest Intelligence data.
Globe also said that it is the “most consistent” network from January to March according to Ookla data, which Agustin, senior vice president for program delivery, said on Friday is the “closest measure in customer experience.”
In March, Globe said Ookla data showed that it improved the “most” in terms of mobile download speed, by being 22% faster at 16.44 Mbps in the 4th quarter of 2020 from 2019’s 13.5 Mbps.
Globe benefits from CREATE law
From January to March, Globe showed signs of recovery as revenues continue to be driven by the growth in mobile data and home broadband segments.
Globe’s profit for the 1st quarter grew by 11% to P7.3 billion, which was largely due to the impact of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) law that lowered corporate income tax.
Excluding the impact of CREATE law, Globe said its normalized profits would have been at P5 billion or 27% lower year-on-year.
Service revenues, meanwhile, inched up 3% to P37.8 billion. Mobile data, which grew 4% to P19.2 billion, made up 51% of the total revenues, while home broadband showed a strong 27% growth to P7.4 billion.
For the 1st quarter, Globe spent P19 billion in capital expenditures, mostly for investments on its network. As of end of March, the telco giant has built a total of 318 new towers.
Total operating expenses, meanwhile, reached P19.5 billion. – Rappler.com
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