PLDT Inc. reported a marginal bump by one percent in its consolidated net income to P27.9 billion for the first nine months of 2023 from P27.5 billion in the same period last year brought by the “gains of its recent tower and leaseback transactions, forex and derivative gains, but partly offset by the material requirements planning (MRP) costs.”

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the firm’s core income, excluding the impact of asset sales and Maya Innovations Holdings, increased by two percent to P26.1 billion for this year’s nine-month period from P25.6 billion last year, “reflecting the impact of higher earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), partially offset by the increased depreciating costs and tax provision.”

Including Mata’s revenues, its telco core income is P24.4 billion this year, a three percent rise from P23.7 billion in 2022. 

PLDT's consolidated EBITDA increased by four percent to P78.4 billion for this year due to higher revenues and lower opex, with an EBITDA margin of 52 percent for the first nine months. 

Meanwhile, its service revenues increased by one percent toP142.3 billion this year from P141.2 billion last year. 

The firm said data and broadband, which grew four percent to P116.9 billion, contributed to 82 percent of the firm's consolidated service revenues. 

Corporate data revenues rose by six percent due to higher fiber and managed IT data revenues, and ICT from data centers, cloud services, and Multisys was higher by 10 percent this year. 

PLDT’s home segment recorded a two percent rise in service revenues to P45.3 billion this year from P44.3 billion last year. 

Its Fiber home-only service revenues grew by 10 percent to P39.3 billion this year, recording 210,000 fiber net additions for the nine month period. To date, Fiver Home has 3.14 million subscribers and 6.15 million fiber ports, covering more than 18,000 barangays in the country. 

Its B2B or enterprise arm also recorded P34.8 billion worth of service revenues due to growth in information and communication technology (ICT) business and fixed and wireless solutions. 

A 28 percent growth was also recorded in the ICT business-to-business space in the Multi-Cloud and Tech Services space. The Data Center segment also recorded steady growth.

PLDT Group’s ICT subsidiary ePLDT’s revenues also improved, driven by hyperscalers that have colocated in VITRO data centers.

Meanwhile, the firm’s individual wireless segments’ revenues were P60.6 billion for this year, posting a five percent growth  to  P52.4 billion for its mobile data revenues. The increase was driven by a 15 percent increase in mobile data traffic to 3,630 Petabytes.

Smart Communications, PLDT’s mobile services arm, registered 55.2 million subscribers, with its network covering 97 percent of the population. TNT is also the leading SIM brand in the country, as per the firm. 

In terms of fiber connections, the firm has accumulated 0.2 million cable kilometers of international fiber and 0.9 million cable kilometers of domestic fiber as of September 2023.

The fiber networks have reached around 17.3 million homes in 69 percent of the country’s municipalities and towns. Its fiber infrastructure also supports 73,800 base stations of Smart. 

PLDT’s fiber infrastructure supports Smart’s 73.8 thousand base stations deployed nationwide. Smart’s network covers around 97% of the population.

Moreover, PLDT has received an overall amount of P77.9 billion in tower sales proceeds to date, through its completed sales of 5,984 towers including the P1.1 billion cash consideration it got on Nov. 3 from closing 91 towers. 

For the nine month period as of Nov. 3, it has closed 1,319 tower sales generating P17.4 billion in proceeds. 

However, capex was recorded at P55.3 billion this year compared to P67.3 billion last year, as the capex intensity ratio decreased by 37 percent this year as part of PLDT's goal to "reduce capex spend in the near- to medium-term, and attain positive free cash flow position as soon as practicable."

Maya, PLDT's online banking segment, reported 2.6 million depositors, with deposits totaling P23.5 billion as of the end of September. In the same period, Maya has also disbursed P16 billion in loans in the last 12 months. 

“Now more than ever, we are witnessing how the power of technology and digital services impact Filipinos’ standard of living, with innovations bringing convenience, comfort, productivity, and security to improve overall quality of life. Our mission at PLDT is to enable our countrymen with the tools and connectivity needed to enhance their digital lifestyles,” said PLDT and Smart President and CEO Alfredo S. Panlilio.