PLDT hikes capex to P83 billion in 2020

Pangilinan-led PLDT Inc. is set to hike its capital expenditure program by 13.85% this year, mainly to support its data business and information technology (IT) projects.

According to PLDT president and chief executive officer Manuel Pangilinan, the company will spend P83 billion this year, up from P72.9 billion in 2019.

"This sustained level of investments in the country’s telecommunications infrastructure now totals P257.7 billion in the last five years. But to raise even further our service quality standards and attain unmatched customer experience (CX), PLDT has allocated a larger capex budget of P83.0 billion for 2020," he said.

According to Pangilinan, the amount will be used mainly for the improvement of the growing data usage to support customer experience.

Of the amount, PLDT will spend P64.6 billion on network and IT projects, mainly to support the data traffic. It will also spend P18.5 billion for broadband installations.

In a briefing in Makati City, the company reported a core net income of P7.7 billion in the fourth quarter, up by 56% or P2.8 billion.

This brought the company's reported income of P22.5 billion, up 19% or P3.6 billion from the previous year.

"Despite continuing challenges, 2019 was a productive year, with revenues reaching record levels on the back of robust growth of our consumer wireless business. This was achieved in large part by making the needed investments in our data and IT networks," said Pangilinan. 

Racehorse

Sought to comment on the company's performance for 2019, Pangilinan welcomed the latest numbers given the losses in the previous years.

"We used to be riding on the back of a donkey, now it's probably a racehorse," he told reporters.

"The numbers are looking good for the first two months and the first few days of March are looking better for PLDT so we're quite optimistic that 2020 will be a better year for us than 2019," he elaborated.

Moving forward, the company is banking on the deployment of its fifth-generation (5G) initiatives to drive growth.

"5G is an investment we will start to make in a more meaningful manner this year," said PLDT chief finance officer Annabelle Chua.

Chua said pilot base stations are scheduled to be put up in Quezon City (Ateneo de Manila and Araneta) and in Clark, Pampanga.— BM/LDF, GMA News