Globe Telecom Inc. on Tuesday vowed to protect its position as the leading mobile phone operator in the country after rival PLDT Group claimed of narrowing the gap in terms of mobile phone subscriber base.
In a briefing, Ernest Cu, Globe president and chief executive, said the telco has been leading in the mobile business in the past seven years and “we expect to defend that as well in the coming years.”
He said Globe is “very much focused on revenue market share and leadership” and not only on mobile phone subscriber base.
Globe reported 53.7 million subscribers after the government’s deadline for SIM registration lapsed, slightly higher than Smart’s 52.5 million subscribers.
Reacting to PLDT and Smart president Alfredo Panlilio’s aspiration to reclaim leadership in the mobile business, Cu said “he would not be in that position and a proper CEO or leading his company if he just wanted to be in second place all the time.”
PLDT lost its dominance in the mobile market to Globe in 2016.
Cu said the SIM registration has no impact on its revenue as close to 100 percent of its active subscribers have been registered.
“At 50 million, our revenue was not affected,” he said.
In a separate statement, Smart said it expects to keep the momentum and recapture the lead position in mobile subscribers as the only telco service provider to gain subscription during the SIM registration campaign.
Compared to end-2022 when Smart had 39.5 percent of all SIMs in the market, Smart ended the SIM registration campaign with 46.1 percent of total SIMs.
The final SIM registration number from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) show Smart narrowing the gap in terms of market share and subscribers, with its nearest competitor from over 20 million to just 1.2 million.
“It takes a while to gain ground and it is going to be a long, drawn-out battle. We will continue to push, to innovate and to look at growth areas. We cannot stand still, especially in the telco space,” Panlilio said.
As of end-June 2023, Smart covered 97 percent of the population with its 3G, 4G/LTE and 5G networks. This is supported by PLDT’s fiber infrastructure, the country’s most extensive at over 1.1 million kilometers, including domestic and international fiber.
