Globe Telecom Inc. said Friday net income rose 11 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, partly due to the implementation of the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act.
The telecom unit of Ayala Corp. said net income amounted to P7.3 billon in the first three months, up from P6.5 billion in the same period last year.
Excluding the impact of CREATE adjustment, normalized net income would have been P5 billion, or 27 percent lower year-on-year.
Globe said the impact of the CREATE Law to its income amounted to P300 million.
Core net income, which excludes the impact of non-recurring charges, and foreign exchange and mark-to-market charges, increased 13 percent to P7.4 billion from a year ago.
“Despite the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the country and the lingering uncertainties from the pandemic, we are encouraged by the improvements in Globe’s first quarter results,” Globe Telecom president and chief executive Ernest Cu said.
“Looking ahead, we believe that Globe is well-positioned to provide more digital solutions and innovative offers to make our services more relevant to our valued customers, especially during this time of crisis,” he said.
Consolidated service revenues reached P37.8 billion, up 3 percent from P36.9 billion last year, on robust data revenue contribution mostly from the broadband segment.
Mobile data revenues posted P19.2 billion, while home broadband and corporate data revenues amounted to P7.4 billion and P3.31 billion, respectively.
Globe said that as of end-March 2021, it built a total of 318 new cell towers, 152 percent higher than in the same period last year.
Total builds for wireless expansion which includes both 4G LTE and 5G reached 4,210 sites in the first quarter, up by 106 percent from a year ago.
Globe also installed over 287,000 high-speed lines reflecting a 212-percent increase from the first quarter of 2020.
“Our 5G and fiber rollout, as well as the continuous upgrading of our network, will remain our utmost priority, as reliable connectivity is indispensable, both to overcome the pandemic and help fuel the recovery of the country’s economy,” Cu said.
Globe’s 5G network covers 84 percent of Metro Manila, expanding to 1,383 sites including Bacolod, Boracay, Cebu, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro and Davao as of end-March this year.
Globe also made its 5G service available abroad with the launch of its 5G service in Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Kuwait in the first quarter of the year.
