Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. said it will invest P38 billion or the bulk of its budget next year, to expand fixed and wireless networks.
PLDT chairman Manuel Pangilinan said the 2016 capital expenditures would be “in the area of P43 billion or the same level as the 2015,” but the bulk or P38 billion would be for fixed and wireless networks expansion.
PLDT raised its capex to P43 billion this year from the original guidance of P39 billion.
“We are proceeding briskly with our network enhancements as evidenced by our capex levels. We are talking approximately $3.7 billion in the last five years, ending 2014, and over $900 million this year. Our capex spend for the last six years including 2015 will therefore sum up to about $4.6 billion,” Pangilinan earlier said.
“That is no small change. We believe these expenditures are vital in order to provide the level of service required by the market and for PLDT to be robustly competitive for the future. These investments, as well as our growing portfolio of partnerships with the best in the global digital space, will serve to fortify our position as the country’s leading digital services provider and enable us in the emerging digital landscape,” he said.
PLDT earlier reported a net income of P25.3 billion in the January to September period, down by 9 percent from P28 billion last year.
PLDT’s net profit went down by 17 percent in the third quarter to P6.61 billion from last year’s P7.93 billion.
Core profit, excluding foreign exchange transactions and other non-recurring items, hit P27.08 billion, down by 5 percent from P28.86 billion a year ago.