Globe Telecom Inc. reported net income dropping 27 percent in the first nine months ascribed to higher depreciation expense and increased non-operating charges.
Net income amounted to P19.36 billion in the January to September period, down from P26.5 billion last year.
Globe blamed the decline to the “increased depreciation expense as well as this period’s non-operating charges versus last year’s non-operating income which included the partial sale of Globe’s data center business.”
Excluding the one-time gain, normalized net income would have been P14.8 billion, down 11 percent from last year.
In the third quarter alone, Globe’s net income also dropped 12 percent to P4.98 billion from P5.7 billion last year.
Core net income, which excludes the impact of non-recurring charges, foreign exchange and mark-to-market charges, closed at P14.8 billion in the first nine months, down 8 percent versus P16.01 billion last year.
“Our third quarter results show that our telecom business performance is very much aligned to the guidance we have set. On the other hand, our pivot to a techco business is showing signs of momentum. We are happy that more of the non-telco businesses are contributing to the Group’s overall business growth and resilience,” Ernest Cu, Globe president and chief executive, said.
“We will continue to look for opportunities to thrive amidst the macroeconomic challenges and competition. We believe that our renewed focus on innovation, collaboration, sustainability and service, backed by our unwavering commitment to network excellence are the imperatives that will keep us ahead and will pave the way for a digitally inclusive and prosperous Philippines,”he added.
Globe Group closed the first nine months with consolidated service revenue amounting to P121.1 billion, up 3 percent from P117.95 billion, despite the extended macroeconomic headwinds faced by the industry.
This was mainly fueled by strong contributions from its mobile, corporate data and non-telco services that fully offset the anticipated decline in home broadband.
Globe’s non-telco revenue grew 44 percent to P4.1 billion from P2.8 billion last year. This was brought about by improved revenue across Globe subsidiaries led by ECPay, Adspark, Asticom and Yondu.
Mobile business revenue was a record P83.2 billion, up 3 percent from P80.6 billion reported last year.
Home broadband business generated P19 billion revenue, down 7 percent from last year’s P20.5 billion. Home broadband subscribers now stand at 1.7 million (post SIM registration), down 35 percent from
last year with the expected normalization of the fixed wireless base as the market shifts to a more reliable wired connectivity.
Total operating expenses including subsidy amounted to P60.4 billion, leaping from P57.6 billion last year.
Globe invested P54 billion in capital expenditure (capex), lower by 27 percent.
Globe built 833 new cell sites and upgraded 5,395 mobile sites to LTE as of September 2023 to ensure seamless connectivity, high-speed data transmission, and consistent service availability across the country.
The company also deployed some 175,000 fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) lines, notably lower than last year’s rollout to maximize the utilization of its existing fiber inventory and this year’s reduction in capex.
In pursuit of expanding its 5G technology, the company deployed 716 new 5G sites, increasing its 5G outdoor coverage to 97.67 percent of the National Capital Region and 92.06 percent of key cities in Visayas and Mindanao.
Globe also logged 5.2 million 5G devices in its network in September.
