Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. has reduced its budget for acquisitions and investments overseas this year, as it prefers to team up with more over-the-top content players or Internet-related companies.
PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan said the company would spend less than $50 million for acquisitions or investments in other countries.
When asked if the company would achieve its target of acquiring four to five IT-related companies this year, Pangilinan said: “ I doubt it this year.”
He said the company expected to have more OTTs as partners, instead. OTTs refer to Internet-related companies that deliver text, images, audio, video and other services over the Internet. They include the likes of Viber, WhatsApp, Netflix and Google TV.
PLDT earlier formed PLDT Capital, which aims to connect the PLDT Group of companies with leading firms in Silicon Valley and around the world.
PLDT Capital allocated an investment budget of $50 million last year to support PLDT business units, including Smart, ePLDT, Digital5 and Voyager to grow their portfolio of digital services in the Philippines and other developing economies.
Of the total budget, PLDT Capital actually invested $20 million, including $10 million in Phunware, a US-based mobile devices and application company; $5 million in Singapore’s Paywhere; and $5 million in AppCard.
PLDT Capital will be supported by a team of strategists, engineers and product managers who will also be identified from the group. PLDT Capital formally started operations in El Segundo, within Los Angeles County in California and has presence in Silicon Valley.
PLDT, partly owned by Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd. and Japan’s NTT group, reported a net income of P25.3 billion in the January to September period last year, down by 9 percent from P28 billion in 2014.
Core profit, which excludes foreign exchange transactions and other non-recurring items, also fell 5 percent to P27.08 billion from P28.86 billion a year ago. Third-quarter core profit amounted to P8.15 billion, down from P8.73 billion in 2014.
Consolidated revenue was flat at P127.87 billion in the first nine months.