PLDT Inc. said it is spending at least P70 billion this year to expand its fiber and wireless networks nationwide.
PLDT chairman and president Manuel Pangilinan told reporters Friday the company’s 2019 capital expenditures would fund the rollout of fiber to home for its fixed-line business.
“For wireless, we will complete substantially our 4G and start constructing the 5G network,” he said. Last year, the company programmed P58 billion in capex.
Fitch Ratings said in November the entry of a new player in the telecom sector would temper revenue growth and raise the capex pressure of PLDT and Globe Telecom Inc.
The government earlier named Mislatel Consortium led by Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corp. and China Telecom as the new major telco.
Pangilinan said he remained optimistic about the outlook for PLDT this year.
“Good number for 2018, and I think I’m optimistic about 2019,” he said.
The country’s largest telecom company posted a net income of P16.48 billion in January to September in 2018, down from P21.87 billion in the same period in 2017.
PLDT saw a net profit of P4.5 billion in the third quarter, lower than P5.38 billion a year ago.
Data showed that excluding foreign exchange gains and other non-recurring income, PLDT, without Voyager, recorded a core profit of P19.07 billion in the first nine months, up by 5 percent from P18.12 billion in 2017.
PLDT’s revenues increased 4 percent in the first nine months of 2018 to P111.88 billion from P113.35 billion in the same period in 2017.
PLDT’s home business revenues grew 12 percent to P27.3 million, while enterprise business expanded 10 percent to P28.4 billion.
Individual wireless services revenues continued to gain momentum – rising 4 percent to P45.5 billion in the first nine months of 2018. This was the fourth consecutive quarter of growth for this business group.
