PLDT Inc. the country’s largest integrated telecommunications group, on Tuesday reported first-half net income barely changed at P18.41 billion, with revenue gains tempered by losses from Maya Innovations Holdings.
The listed telecom firm of the MVP Group said gross service revenue rose 4 percent in the first half to P103.4 billion, with data and broadband services contributing P80.5 billion. Excluding the impact of declining legacy revenue, consolidated service revenue was up 7 percent.
“Despite facing challenges such as geopolitical uncertainties, significant changes in the telecom industry, and an increasingly competitive landscape, we remain committed to growing the business,” said Manuel V. Pangilinan, PLDT and Smart chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement.
Core income, which excludes asset sales and losses from Maya, reached ₱18 billion, up 3 percent from the same period last year, on track to meet PLDT’s guidance for core income this year seen “north of P35 billion.”
Core earnings per share was P83, while reported EPS was P85. PLDT said its board approved a dividend payout of 60 percent of core EPS, translating to P50 dividends per share.
Consolidated net debt stood at P252.7 billion. Gross debt stood at P265.4 billion, with maturities well spread out. Around 15 percent of gross debt is denominated in U.S. dollars, and 5 percent is unhedged.
The PLDT Group’s fiber network remains the most extensive in the country, with homes reaching 18.13 million across 71 percent of the country’s towns and 91 percent of the provinces. Smart’s combined 5G and 4G network covers approximately 97 percent of the population.
Capital expenditures in the first half amounted to P35.1 billion, a decrease from ₱40.8 billion in the year prior. The capex intensity ratio—capital spending as a percentage of service revenue—was 34 percent compared to last year’s 41 percent, in line with the group’s goal of reducing capex to around P75 billion or P78 billion, including commitments from last year.
On the planned sale of PLDT’s data center, Pangilinan said some of those interested want control of the business. The MVP group is only willing to sell 49 percent.
PLDT said the individual wireless segment posted 4 percent revenue growth to P41.9 billion in the first half, with mobile data revenue rising 8 percent to P37.1 billion. Active data users stood at 40.5 million, with average data usage per subscriber increasing to 11.6 GB from 10.5 GB last year. Mobile data traffic increased 11 percent year-on-year to 2,641 petabytes.
As of end-June, Smart had 60.8 million mobile subscribers.
PLDT Home posted fiber-only service revenue rising 7 percent to P27.6 billion in the first half. Fiber-only revenue now accounts for 92 percent of PLDT Home’s first-half 2024 revenue of ₱30.0 billion.
Total fiber subscribers as of end-June 2024 stood at 3.2 million, supported by PLDT’s Fiber network, which spans over 1.15 million cable kilometers covering over 20,000 barangays nationwide, making it the largest in the country.
PLDT Home accelerated fiber rollouts starting this year and improved the pace of fiber installations, resulting in a 20 percent increase in fiber installs from May to June. It launched the country’s first Gigabit Fiber plans offering speeds of up to 10Gbps. It also introduced affordable options such as Fiber Plan 899 with unlimited fiber at speeds up to 35Mbps and Prepaid Fiber for P99 for a full day of unlimited internet.
PLDT Enterprise, the corporate arm of PLDT, reported P24.0 billion in service revenue in the first half of 2024. This was driven by consistent and accelerating progress in core connectivity and ICT business segments, including SD-WAN, fiber revenues, Application-to-Person (A2P), and Internet of Things (IoT).
On the digital solutions front, ePLDT, PLDT’s ICT subsidiary, saw robust growth in cloud technology services, cybersecurity solutions, and Managed IT Services. VITRO Inc., ePLDT’s data center subsidiary, experienced increases in colocation revenues.
VITRO Santa Rosa (VSR), the country’s largest hyperscale facility, was energized in July and will soon serve telcos, enterprises, and hyperscalers, with an initial power capacity of 20MW by the end of the year. When fully operational, VSR will double PLDT Group’s total facility capacity to about 100MW.
Maya has seen significant growth in its banking user base, reflecting its strong market strategy and product appeal. As of end-June, deposits grew to P32.8 billion, driven by innovative savings products and higher interest rates linked to everyday spending. The number of borrowers surged to 1.2 million, and bank customers increased to 4 million.
Maya Bank achieved cashflow positivity in the second quarter of 2024, with loan disbursements reaching ₱46.8 billion. Future growth is anticipated with strategic initiatives such as device financing with PLDT and Smart and loan channeling with Tala.
Maya also secured an exclusive voting partnership with the top reality TV show *Pinoy Big Brother*. Through the Maya app, viewers can vote to save their favorite housemate while promoting financial education and fostering a culture of savings.
As Maya scales its banking business, it solidifies its position as the Philippines’ digital payment backbone. Maya remains the top processor of payment transactions for credit and debit cards and QRPH transactions, according to Visa and BancNet data.
“With the all-time highs delivered in recent periods behind us, we look to the future with careful optimism. Our focus on exceptional service to our customers remains intense as we strive for higher shareholder value. We are confident that, as before, we will succeed through the perseverance, dedication, and innovation of our people,” said Pangilinan.
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