Data business fuels Globe’s net income to P22.3B in 2019, up 20%

Globe Telecom Inc. saw a double-digit growth in its bottom line in 2019 driven by its data business.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday, the Ayala-led telco said its consolidated net income stood at P22.3 billion, up 20% from P18.4 billion a year earlier.

Core net income also grew 20% from P18.7 billion in 2018 to P22.5 billion in 2019.

Globe posted consolidated service revenues of P149.0 billion, up 12% year-on-year.

The growth was fueled by the gains from data across mobile, broadband and corporate data services, the telco said.

Total data revenues accounted for 71% of total service revenues compared 61% reported in 2018, “as more Filipinos adopt the digital lifestyle.”

Consolidated EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) stood at P76.0 billion.

“2019 proved to be another good year for Globe despite the changing industry environment. We ended 2019 with a positive set of financial results and more importantly significant gains on the network front,” Ernest Cu, president and chief executive officer of Globe, said.

“These results serve as a springboard for the opportunities and challenges that lay ahead, and will help us better serve our expanded mobile and broadband customer base of over 96 million. We will continue this momentum through 2020 as we remain committed to our goal of delivering first-world internet connectivity to the Philippines,” Cu said.

In 2019, Globe spent a record capital expenditure of P51.0 billion or around $989 million, up 18% a year ago and represents 34% of gross service revenues and 67% of full year EBITDA.

Bulk of the all-time high spend went to data-related requirements, comprising 79%, as Globe said it continued to invest in the Philippines towards enabling Filipino families and businesses.

This record spend allowed Globe to make significant gains and fast-track its network rollout during the year.

As of December 2019, the company said it put up 139% more sites versus 2018 and also added more 3G and 4G base stations, putting up 28% more than last year.

“These gains benefitted customers as evidenced in the latest results of 3rd party network quality test providers, which showed that Globe's LTE download and upload speeds, and latency in the 4th quarter of 2019 improved nearly 16%, 6%, and 9% respectively, compared to the same period last year,” it said.

The improvements were achieved despite a 58% growth in mobile data traffic over the same time period, it added.

To sustain this momentum, Globe said it is committed to spend P63.0 billion in capital expenditures in 2020, which includes spill over of capex committments from 2019. —Ted Cordero/KG, GMA News