Globe Telecom shrugged off a tougher economic backdrop to post record second-quarter revenues, with surging demand for mobile data, fiber broadband and enterprise digital services cushioning an earnings decline due largely to one-off items.
The Ayala-led telecommunications giant reported second-quarter net income of P5.5 billion, little changed from P5.6 billion in the previous quarter. More tellingly, core net income, which excludes foreign exchange and mark-to-market swings, climbed 7.0 percent quarter on quarter to P5.3 billion, pointing to stronger underlying operations.
For the first half, reported net income fell 11 percent to P11 billion from P12.4 billion a year earlier after last year’s results were boosted by a larger gain from the dilution of Globe’s stake in Mynt, the parent company of GCash, and lower non-operating charges. Strip out those accounting effects, however, and the picture looks steadier, with core earnings slipping just 2.0 percent to P10.2 billion.
The company’s operating engine continued to fire.
Service revenues hit an all-time high of P43.4 billion in the second quarter, lifting first-half revenues 6.0 percent to a record P85.4 billion as Filipinos continued to spend on connectivity even amid persistent inflation and global uncertainty. Data now generates 91 percent of Globe’s service revenues, underscoring its transformation from a traditional telecom operator into a digital connectivity platform.
Mobile remained Globe’s biggest business, generating P60.4 billion in first-half revenues. Mobile data climbed 10 percent to P53.9 billion as subscribers streamed more videos, played more games, embraced artificial intelligence applications and increasingly relied on digital payments. Average monthly data usage rose to 17 gigabytes from 15 GB a year ago.
Fiber broadband extended its comeback, posting a fifth straight quarter of sequential growth as Globe accelerated customer migration to higher-value fiber services. GFiber Prepaid subscribers reached 1.1 million.
The enterprise business also delivered record corporate data revenues of P11 billion, up 15 percent, reflecting rising demand for cloud, cybersecurity and AI-enabled solutions.
Meanwhile, GCash is becoming more than a strategic investment. Globe’s share in Mynt’s earnings climbed to P3.7 billion in the first half, accounting for 28 percent of pre-tax income and increasingly anchoring the group’s earnings profile.
“Our first-half results demonstrate the strength of our core business and the solid contribution of our digital ecosystem,” Globe President and CEO Carl Raymond R. Cruz said, adding the company would continue investing in networks, AI capabilities and digital infrastructure to sustain long-term growth.
