As consumers adopted to a digital lifestyle in the new normal, PLDT Inc. hauled in ₱141.9 billion Consolidated Service Revenues in the first nine months of 2022, up 4.5 percent, versus the same period last year, and earned ₱27.4 billion, up 45 percent, including ₱22.3 billion gains from the sale of its towers.

Its core income, excluding the impact of asset sales and Voyager Innovations, grew 10 percent to ₱25.4 billion.

Data and broadband, which grew by 9 percent or ₱9.3 billion to ₱113.2 billion in the first nine months, continues to drive growth, contributing 80 percent of Consolidated Service Revenues.

Consolidated EBITDA increased by 6 percent to ₱75.4 billion, also an all-time high and trending to cross ₱100 billion for the full year despite the stressful economic conditions. EBITDA margin was at 51 percent.

“Enterprise seems to be our bright spot as we continue to empower businesses in their digital transformation and promote the Philippines to be the next major ASEAN digital hub," Alfredo S. Panlilio, PLDT and Smart Communications President and CEO remarked.

"Our 11th and, by far, largest data center is also on-track to be completed in late 2023,” he noted.

“Meanwhile, PLDT Home continues to grow despite increasing challenges to people’s wallets due to continuing high inflation and the prolonged impact of Typhoon Odette.”

“Our goals are pretty bold, as we aim for big targets, even knowing it is not going to be easy,” Panlilio added.

“We are aware of the headwinds that we face, and certainly, this will not be the last time we will encounter challenges,” he explained.

“While we continue to drive revenues by responding to our customers’ needs, we are trying to put discipline in place by controlling our operational expenses and improving operating efficiencies.”

PLDT's Consolidated Net Debt as of the first nine months amounted to US$4.038 billion while net-debt-to-

EBITDA stood at 2.36x. Gross Debt was at US$4.414 billion, with maturities well spread out.

Only 18 percent of Gross Debt are denominated in US dollars with 5 percent or US$0.24 billion of total debt unhedged. PLDT maintained its credit ratings from Moody’s and S&P Global at investment grade.

In connection with its sale of telecom towers, PLDT has already transferred ownership of 4,435 towers or 75 percent of the 5,907 towers covered by the sale and leaseback transaction, to tower companies and gained ₱57.7 billion.

Proceeds from the sale of the towers will support operating and capital expenditures.

The transaction is timely as it allows PLDT to avoid additional debt against a backdrop of a rising interest rate environment.

PLDT expects additional closings before the end of the year, with final closing anticipated to be completed by the first quarter of 2023. The sale of additional telecom towers is currently under evaluation.

PLDT Home, for its part, continues to grow by reaching deeper into the unserved market, posting service revenues of ₱42.7 billion, up 21 percent year-on-year.

Fiber-only service revenues grew 52 percent, or ₱12.2 billion, to ₱35.7 billion in the first nine months, on the back of increased gross additions of 286,000 customers in the third quarter, partially offset by higher churn due to the continuing clean-up of customers affected by Typhoon Odette as well as rising economic challenges impacting customer wallets.

PLDT Home’s fiber subscribers reached 2.9 million, having added 489,000 net new fiber subscribers in the first nine months of the year.

Total fixed broadband subscribers as of endSeptember is at 3.24 million.

“This supports our view that there is still growth in what remains to be an underpenetrated market, albeit future revenues will likely come from regional areas where rollout is needed and from lower market segments," Panlilio explained.

"As we reach deeper into the market, we are exploring lower denomination plans to address affordability.”

On the other hand, PLDT Enterprise posted ₱35.2 billion revenues, up 9 percent, year-on-year, as business activity surged back post-COVID lockdowns and demand for data centers from hyperscalers grew.

PLDT’s Individual wireless segment revenues hit ₱61.7 billion, as the group sharpened the brand definition of Smart and TNT with new promos that address customer preferences.

Data and broadband contributed 84 percent to the segment’s revenues.

In the first nine months of the year, active data users stood at 41.6 million, while average monthly mobile data usage per subscriber also rose to 8.8GB. Mobile data traffic grew by 30 percent year-on-year to 3,163PB.

The PLDT Group's all-in-one money platform, Maya, registered one million bank customers and over ₱10 billion deposit balances five months after its launch in April this year.

Reinforcing the Philippines’ position as a regional hyperscale hub, the PLDT Group has expanded its total fiber footprint to 1,091,000 kilometers, consisting of over 231,000 kilometers of international fiber and almost 860,000 kilometers of domestic fiber, passing some 16.8 million homes in 67 percent of the country’s cities and municipalities.

PLDT’s fiber infrastructure supports Smart’s 77,200 base stations, including 7,300 5G base stations and close to 40,000 4G/LTE base stations deployed nationwide. Smart’s network covers 97 percent of the population with 3G, LTE, and 5G.

The group also built 1.29 million additional fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) bringing total FTTH capacity to 5.9 million.

PLDT is in the process of reviewing its consolidated capex for 2022, which could exceed the initial capex guidance of P85 billion. .

Overall, “Our third quarter performance has shown that the business continues to do well amidst external challenges—first COVID-19, then inflation and high interest rates, not to mention the ever-present typhoons—and the indication so far is that the full year performance will be ahead of last year especially as the fourth quarter is typically a good one. We must focus and execute well,” Panlilio disclosed.

“Ultimately, PLDT’s main advantage is having three revenue engines with strong competitive and complementary positions. This has made the PLDT Group resilient in challenging times.”

“We are also watching our capex levels, especially the impact of the weakening peso on our dollar-denominated debts and imported capex, even capex committed in previous years and current ones," he noted.

"With the disciplined effort led by our Transformation Office, we are trying to manage some softness in our topline, as well as tightly control our costs.”

“At this time that the consumer wallet is diminished—when consumer income is under threat and government finances are challenged—investments will emerge as a primary recovery tool," says Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan.

"Hence, investments are needed, both by the Government and the private sector to drive the economy forward,” he concluded.