Globe Telecom Inc. said Tuesday it borrowed $100 million from Bank of China (Hong Kong) Ltd. to partly finance 2021 capital expenditures.
The telecom unit of Ayala Group budgeted a record P70 billion for capital expenditures this year, higher than last year’s P50 billion.
Globe already spent P19.1 billion in capex as of end-March, exceeding last year’s spending by 79 percent.
The company said around 91 percent of the investment went to data-related requirements to support the fast-growing data usage and provide superior data customer experience.
Globe’s network roll-out strategy includes aggressive cell site builds, upgrade of all sites to fourth-generation/long-term evolution technology and fast-tracking the fiberization of Filipino homes nationwide.
The record-breaking capital expenditure supports Globe’s continuous modernization of its network to make 5G and fiber technology available to customers in more areas in the country.
Globe reported a net income of P7.3 billon in the first three months, up by 11 percent from P6.5 billion in the same period last year.
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.
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.