Globe Telecom Inc., the telecom and financial services unit of the Ayala Group, said Wednesday it ended the first half with a 2 percent growth in consolidated gross service revenue of P82.2 billion, lifted by mobile and corporate data services.
Net income grew by 1 percent to P14.5 billion. Excluding non-recurring gains, normalized net income increased 19 percent to P11.9 billion. Core net income expanded by 18 percent to P11.7 billion.
Mobile revenue reached a record P58.4 billion, up 7 percent, while corporate data revenue grew 8 percent to P9.8 billion. Data revenue contributed 85 percent to total gross service revenue, up from 82 percent previously.
Adjusting for the deconsolidation of ECPay, gross service revenue would have grown by 4 percent.
Mobile data revenue hit a record P48.0 billion in the first half, a 9 percent increase from last year. GFiber Prepaid saw a significant 272 percent rise in acquisitions, reflecting strong market demand.
Non-telco revenue fell by 58 percent due to ECPay’s deconsolidation, but on a comparable basis, the decline would have been 26 percent. Operating expenses decreased by 2 percent to P39.3 billion.
Earning before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 6 percent to P43.0 billion, with the margin improving to 52 percent. Mynt’s equity earnings rose by 120 percent to P2.1 billion.
Globe’s financial health remained strong, with total debt slightly reduced to P248.7 billion
“Our strong performance in the first half underscores our resilience and consistent growth,” said Ernest L. Cu, president and chief executive officer of Globe.
Globe invested P28.3 billion in capital expenditures during the first half, down 25 percent from the same period in 2023. The cash capex-to-revenue ratio decreased to 34 percent from 44 percent last year, supporting Globe’s strategy to optimize capital and achieve positive free cash flows by 2025. About 91 percent of capex was allocated to data needs.
he company focused on optimizing network investments, leading to a reduction in purchase orders to 57 percent of actual cash capex, totaling USD279 million. Globe built 352 new cell sites, upgraded 1,942 mobile sites to LTE, and deployed 39,880 fiber-to-the-home lines.
In the first half of 2024, Globe rolled out 256 new 5G sites, achieving 98.45 percent coverage in the National Capital Region and 94.19 percent in key cities in Visayas and Mindanao. The company connected over 7 million devices to its 5G network and formed 5G partnerships with 167 partners across 87 destinations.
