PLDT Inc. said on Thursday it remains the leader in fixed broadband in the country after acquiring more subscribers six times than rival Globe Telecom Inc. in the first quarter of the year.
PLDT HOME commands a market share of around 70 percent in the first quarter as it continues to offer digital services to its nearly 1.3 million wired broadband customers.
Rival Globe had 650,064 wired broadband subscribers at end-March.
Broadband and data revenues now account for 53 percent of total PLDT HOME revenues at P4.23 billion as of end-March.
“PLDT has posted strong gains in data, broadband and digital services,” PLDT chairman and chief executive Manuel Pangilinan said.
“Our experience in the fixed line business shows how growth can be restored by progressively building up our data and broadband revenues to critical mass,” he added.
PLDT executive vice president and head of consumer business Ariel Fermin added “PLDT HOME had a good head start, having been growing in revenues for five consecutive years now with its unmatched digital services and compelling content.”
“We provide customers with the most number of home entertainment services running on broadband led by PLDT HOME DSL and PLDT HOME Fibr that serve as the foundation for value-added services such as linear IPTV with Cignal TV, catch up TV with Fox, and video on demand as offered by iflix. These services are available at home and on mobile devices,” he said.
PLDT, partly owned by Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd. and Japan’s NTT group, earlier reported a net income of P6.22 billion in the January-to-March period, down 34 percent from P9.48 billion year-on-year.
The company blamed the decline in net income during the period to higher product subsidies and financing costs, and increased impairment charges related to the investment in Rocket Internet.
Core profit, which excludes foreign exchange gains or losses and other non-recurring income, dropped 22 percent to P7.21 billion in the first quarter from P9.28 billion last year.
Consolidated revenues amounted to P42.78 billion in the January-to-March period from P42.55 billion in the same period last year.