PLDT Inc. expects its telco core income to grow by about 6 percent to as much as P30 billion this year, driven mainly by the projected growth of its home, wireless and enterprise businesses.
Manuel V. Pangilinan, the company’s president and chairman, said the profit guidance of P29 billion to P30 billion is in line with the continued growth of the telco’s bottomline, as it continues to surmount the negative effects of the pandemic.
“Across the board, there will be increases and of course service revenues in aggregate will be higher than what was shown in 2020,” he said in a press briefing on Thursday.
Pangilinan said the home broadband business will likely post a high double-digit growth, while both wireless and enterprise verticals will be inthe high single-digit levels.
Revenues this year, he added, are expected to post a high single-digit increase, which he described as “a compulsive number.”
“I think it’s a paramount goal for management to achieve a P30-billion telco core income for the year. We’re giving a range, because we don’t know the pace of economic recovery. But, we’re still hopeful that despite the sometimes cloudy outlook in the economy, the company is still doing really well,” he said.
Pangilinan is optimistic that the company will move past the P30-billion telco core income mark in the coming years, as the company introduces new solutions in the market beyond connectivity.
“We won’t stop at P30 billion. We will push on. The number 30 is important—it’s a milestone for us at this time because it gives us a platform to push forward to a much higher number to accomplish,” he said.
Pangilinan also reported that the telco core income for 2020 reached P28.1 billion, a 4-percent increase from P27.1 billion the year prior, as revenues climbed by 9 percent to P171.5 billion from P157.7 billion due to the surge in the demand for data and broadband as the pandemic-induced lockdowns brought much work and schooling to cyberspace.
Its net income, on the other hand, reached P24.3 billion, an 8-percent increase from P22.5 billion the year prior, owing to the growth in revenues and the sale of some of its assets.
He described this financial performance as “stellar” despite what he called as the “year from hell,” when multiple calamities hit the country and the spread of Covid-19.
Data and broadband revenues now account for 73 percent of PLDT’s total business, growing by 4x since 2012, when voice and text still account for bulk of the company’s total revenues.
For 2021, the company plans to roll out more of its 5G and 4G sites, lay more fiber, and install more ports to address the strong demand for connectivity due to the pandemic.
PLDT is spending between P88 billion and P92 billion this year to beef up its fixed and wireless networks.
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