Globe Telecom Inc. said Wednesday net income grew 27 percent in 2021 from a year ago, on the back of higher revenues from mobile and home broadband businesses amid the pandemic.
The telecom unit of the Ayala Group said net income amounted to P23.7 billion last year, up from P18.6 billion in 2020.
Globe said core net income, which excludes the impact of non-recurring charges and foreign exchange and mark-to-market charges, also rose 9 percent to P21.2 billion from a year earlier.
“Globe showed admirable resilience in 2021 despite the pandemic and the devastation of Typhoon Odette in the country. We have emerged to be an outstanding digital services enabler by rapidly adapting our strategies to address both the challenges and the opportunities created by the global health crisis and natural disasters,” Globe Telecom president and chief executive Ernest Cu said in a statement.
“As a result, our financial performance remained stable and posted healthy growth, enabling us to reinvest back into our network as customer data demands grow larger each year. We invested P92.8 billion in capex for 2021 and have earmarked P89 billion for 202, to give Filipinos better, more meaningful digital experiences,” he said.
Globe said the P89-billion capex this year would be used to continue aggressive network expansion that includes new cell site builds, upgrading of more sites to 4G/LTE, rollout of 5G connectivity, fiberization of Filipino homes nationwide and boosting the internet quality and coverage in the Philippines.
Globe built 1,407 new cell sites nationwide in 2021 including both 4G LTE and 5G, upgraded more than 22,300 mobile sites and installed over 2,000 5G outdoor sites and in building solutions last year.
Globe said that on the fixed line front, it installed over 1.4 million FTTH lines, surpassing its revised target for the year.
Globe posted consolidated service revenues of P151.5 billion in 2021, up 4 percent from P146.4 billion in 2020 and surpassing the 2019’s pre-pandemic level by 2 percent.
“Home broadband and corporate data drove the topline expansion given the increased data consumption among the Filipinos for work, education, health care, business, entertainment and essential social interactions,” Globe said.
Globe’s total data revenues across mobile, broadband and corporate data accounted for 80 percent of total service revenues in 2021, up from 76 percent in 2020.
Mobile business revenues as of end-December 2021 improved by 1 percent from P103.7 billion a year earlier, mostly coming from the prepaid brands. Total mobile revenues comprised 69 percent of the total service revenues, with mobile subscriber base reaching 86.8 million, or 13 percent higher from the previous year.
Mobile data revenues posted a record P77.8 billion in 2021, up from P72.4 billion in 2020, as more Filipinos accelerated their use of digital applications and services.