Globe Telecom Inc. has regained its pre-pandemic mobile revenue levels, hitting P27 billion for the second-quarter of 2022, the telco announced Tuesday, August 23.

Year on year, Globe’s first half mobile revenue stood at P54 billion, a 3 percent improvement versus last year.

It was powered entirely by the growth in mobile data services, which also reached an all-time high.

Globe’s mobile data traffic in the first half of the year hit 2,177 petabytes, a 24 percent increase from the same period last year.

This is higher than competition’s reported 2,081 petabytes for the period.

Mobile data average revenue per user (ARPU), likewise, continued to increase and is now at 9.7 gigabytes per month, up 20 percent year on year and 8 percent quarter on quarter.

Prepaid brands, which used a lot of mobile data, and other non-telco solutions, such as mobile wallet GCash, accounted for the strong performance.

“Mobile data has benefited from increased mobility and the reopening of the economy," noted Issa Guevarra-Cabreira, Globe’s Chief Commercial Officer.

"Moving into the second half of the year, we are well aware of the inflationary pressures that we're facing. Because of that, our focus has always been to provide our customers with relevant products and services that will provide them the best value,” she added.

Meanwhile, Globe continues to expand its fiber footprint, with fiber subscribers and revenues rising by 102 percent and 135 percent, respectively, against the comparative period.

Already, the telco has rolled out over one million Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) lines as of end June, allowing it to better compete in the market.

Home Broadband's total revenues have also exceeded pre-pandemic levels at P13.8 billion.

Although the Home Broadband market is still underserved, Globe believes that the postpaid broadband market is already nearing its saturation point.

This points to lower market segments in need of fiber connectivity at more affordable levels that remain unserved.

Thus, Globe is responding to the unfilled need for fiber connection in communities through the launch of TMBayan Fiber WiFi, a service designed for the prepaid market looking for better connectivity at a more affordable cost.

TMBayan Fiber WiFi taps sari-sari stores and similar “tambayans” as community WiFi hubs.

“There is a segment of the market that is predominantly prepaid but is now in need of better speeds and more reliable connection that fiber can provide,” Cabreira pointed out.

TMBayan Fiber WiFi is initially available in over 200 hubs across the country: 53 in Metro Manila; 89 in Luzon including Bulacan, Pampanga, Cavite, and Laguna; 31 in Visayas, specifically, Cebu; and 29 in Mindanao, including Davao del Norte and Davao del Sur.