PLDT earns P9.2-B in Q1, down 8%

Rappler.com

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The telecommunications giant has a total subscriber base of 71.7 million as of end-March

DECLINING PROFITS. Net income from over 71 million subscribers of PLDT down in the first quarter. Photo by Aya Lowe

MANILA, Philippines – Telecommunications giant PLDT reported earning P9.2 billion net in the first quarter of 2013, or 8% lower than the P10 billion income a year ago.

In a statement on Tuesday, May 7, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) attributed the decline to lower foreign exchange and derivative gains and accounting-related revisions on “termination benefits.”

Without these one-off transactions, PLDT’s core income reached P9.6 billion or 4% higher than the P9.2 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2012.

“The first quarter profitability provides a good start towards our achieving core profit guidance for 2013 of P38.3 billion,” PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan stressed.

Below is a summary of financial performance for the quarter:

  • Service revenues stable at P40 billion. Excluding interconnection costs, consolidated service revenues, as well as wireless and fixed line revenues, were higher by 1% year-on-year
  • EBITDA margin at 51% of service revenues; consolidated EBITDA stable at P20.4 billion 
  • Free cash flow was at P7.1 billion, or P5 billion lower quarter-on-quarter due to “movements in working capital” 
  • Capital expenditures for the period amounted to P3.1 billion as the group continues network improvements. Capital expenditures are expected to reach P29.0 billion for 2013, P7.4 billion lower than the capex spend for 2012.
  • Net debt reached US$1.8 billion. Gross debt was at $2.8 billion, with the inclusion of Digitel’s debt amounting to $0.4 billion. The percentage of US dollar-denominated debt to the Group’s total debt portfolio is at 46%.

Subscriber base

Total subscriber base at end-March was 71.7 million, broken down as follows: 

  • Smart – 25.4 million subscribers
  • Talk N Text – 30.6 million subscribers as a result of 2.1 million net additions for the quarter
  • Digitel – 15.8 million Sun Cellular subscribers

Below is a summary of the performance and subscriber base for PLDT’s services:

Wireless service

  • Total postpaid cellular subscribers reached 2.1 million, which includes Sun Cellular’s 1.3 million
  • Revenues reached P28.5 billion, a flat growth against the P28.4 billion in the same period in 2012

Broadband

  • Total subscribers reached 3.2 million, including net additions of 39,000 that offset decline in Sun subscriber base, which was ‘cleaned up’ of inactive users 
  • SmartBro, Smart’s wireless broadband service, had a wireless broadband subscriber base of about 1.74 million, of which over 1.2 million were on prepaid service
  • Revenues from both broadband and internet services amounted to P6.4 billion, up 10% year-on-year. 
  • Broadband and internet now account for 16% of total group service revenues. 
  • Wireless broadband revenues (exclusive of mobile internet revenues) reached P2.3 billion, just up 1% from P2.2 billion a year ago. 
  • Mobile internet revenues reached P688 million, up 42% from a year ago’s P979 million

DSL

  • Total subscribers reached 854,000, reflecting an increase by over 25,000; Digitel had a total of 70,000 DSL subscribers
  • Revenues reached P2.9 billion, up 5% from P2.8 billion a year ago

Fixed line

  • Total subscribers of PLDT and Digitel reached 2.1 million
  • Revenues reached P15.2 billion, a paltry 1% increase from P15.0 billion a year ago

– Rappler.com

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