Filipinos' increased appetite for data, both mobile and broadband, which had been driven by the pandemic, will continue as the economy recovers.

"The rapidly expanding data needs of Filipinos will only continue to grow as the economy recovers,” confirmed Ernest Cu, Globe President and CEO.

The surge in data consumption drove the performance of Globe Telecom Inc for the first nine months of 2020 and the telco expects to benefit as the market sustains the trend.

Local consumers turned to online platforms for entertainment, e-commerce, telework, learning and keeping in touch with families and friends since the pandemic struck this March.

Data-related revenues for the nine-month period made up 75 percent of total service revenues with mobile data contributing 49 percent; home broadband, 18 percent; and corporate data, 8 percent.

Mobile data revenues generated P53.4 billion from January to September 2020 from P52.1 billion in the same period last year as a result of the shift to more online activities.

Mobile data now accounts for 69% of mobile revenues from 63 percent a year ago. Mobile data traffic jumped from 1,200 petabytes in the first nine months of 2019 to 1,762 petabytes this period, or a 47 percent growth year-on-year.

On the other hand, home broadband posted P7.0 billion in revenues this quarter, up 28 percent versus the same quarter last year and 4 percent higher than last quarter.

This allowed the home broadband business to maintain its upward momentum by posting a 22 percent year-on-year revenue growth to reach P19.5 billion this period, from P16.1 billion last year.

Total home broadband subscriber base now stands at over 3.4 million, up 82 percent from the first nine months of 2019, driven mainly by the sustained increase of fixed wireless broadband users, up by 119 percent from last year.

Home Prepaid Wi-Fi (HPW), likewise, increased its traction with a 226 percent growth in users from the same period last year. As of end-September of 2020, HPW data traffic soared to 352 petabytes from 77 petabytes in the same period of 2019.

The highly-improved performance of the home broadband business was also attributed to the greater demand for faster and reliable internet connection as more companies pivoted towards work from home arrangements, and educational institutions shifted to online classes as a result of COVID-19.

With the pandemic transforming data pattern and consumer behavior, Globe also saw the need to accelerate its fiber and 5G network rollouts even further as well as hasten the migration from 3G to 4G LTE networks for improved customer data experience.

The company has allocated P50.3 billion in capital expenditures this year for network improvements.