MANILA, Philippines – Telecommunications giant PLDT saw no growth in its bottom line in the first half of 2024, although it managed to boost both its service revenues and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) by 3% to hit all-time semestral highs.
PLDT posted an attributable net income of P18.41 billion, which was marginally lower than its P18.45 billion in H1 2023. If the impact of asset sales as well as the losses from its affiliated digital bank Maya are excluded, then telco core income comes out to P18 billion, 3% higher year-on-year.
PLDT’s consolidated service revenues, net of interconnect costs, grew by 3% to P96.9 billion. Revenue from data and broadband increased by 4% to account for 83% of the consolidated service revenue.
“Even as we continue to face challenges – among these geopolitical uncertainties, significant gravity in the telco space, and an increasingly competitive telco landscape – we remain determined to do our best to grow the business,” said Manuel Pangilinan, PLDT and Smart chairman and chief executive officer, in a press release on Tuesday, August 13.
Regarding its outlook for the rest of 2024, PLDT said that it was targeting mid-single digit growth for its consolidated service revenue and EBITDA. Telco core income is also expected to settle “north of P35 billion,” which is a slight improvement over the P34.34 billion it posted in 2023.
“We can probably hit our target in terms of mid single digit growth in our core income and EBITDA, barring unforeseen circumstances,” Pangilinan said in a press briefing on Tuesday.
Pangilinan also said that PLDT and its close rival Globe continued to face “challenges,” which have hampered industry growth.
“Looking at just the revenue trend in the first quarter, the industry grew by about P2.8 billion, meaning the two of us combined,” Pangilinan told the media. “I guess, not bad, but not exciting, right? That’s probably indicative of the growth for the first quarter for the industry as a whole.”
However, Pangilinan added that growth in the second quarter was comparatively worse, as PLDT and Globe’s combined revenue growth was down to P1.4 billion for the period.
“It was a tough, slow second quarter business for the both of us for a number of reasons,” the tycoon added. “It remains challenging across the board.” – Rappler.com