PLDT Inc. said it plans to borrow P10 billion from local banks to partly fund capital expenditures in 2016.
PLDT chief finance officer Anabelle Chua said the P10-billion loan from local banks would depend on the timing of the capex.
Chua said the budget was raised to P48 billion from the original P43 billion, because of the rollout of additional frequencies it acquired from San Miguel Corp.PLDT already spent P20 billion in capex as of end-June.
PLDT said the higher capex level reflected the group’s continuing program to roll out high-speed data infrastructure on fixed-line network, in the form of more fiber-to-home facilities and on its mobile network, particularly though the expansion of 4G/LTE mobile network.
PLDT’s mobile phone unit, Smart Communications Inc., plans to roll out 360 cell sites with facilities using the 700-megahertz to deliver 4G/LTE service in the metro areas of Manila, Cebu and Davao by the end of this year. To date, eight cell sites have been fired up.
Smart also switched on additional facilities in 2,221 cell sites in various parts of the country using the 1800-Mhz spectrum to add capacity to its 2G services.
“Our comprehensive network improvement program highlights our commitment to deliver a higher level of Internet service to both consumer and enterprise customers. This is being accomplished through the deployment of the most advanced network technologies — FTTH [fiber to the home] for fixed and 4G/LTE for mobile,” PLDT chairman and president Manuel Pangilinan said.
“This provides the foundation for our digital pivot, enabling the group to deliver an increasingly rich array of digital services and solutions to Filipinos all over the country,” he said.
PLDT, partly owned by Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd. and Japan’s NTT group, said net income in the first half also declined 33 percent to P12.46 billon from P18.73 billion a year ago.
Core profit, which excludes foreign exchange gains or losses and other non-recurring income, dropped 6 percent to P17.7 billion in the first half from P18.93 billion last year.
Consolidated revenues barely grew to P85.28 billion from P85.19 billion. Pangilinan said PLDT was keeping its core net income guidance of P30 billion this year.