Telecommunications service provider Philippine Telegraph and Telephone (PT&T) Corp. is eager to resume trading on the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) within the first half of the year as it nears regulatory approval.

PT&T President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) James Velasquez told reporters that the plan to end the company’s two-decade stock market hiatus is now “on track.”

“The plan is to be able to do that within the year. So, hopefully within first half is our objective,” said Velasquez.

PT&T, once a rival to PLDT Inc. in the telco space, now mostly caters to businesses across Metro Manila and Calabarzon.

It was one of the largest companies that suffered during the Asian financial crisis, incurring about ₱12 billion in debt.

This forced PT&T to file for voluntary trading suspension in 2004 amid failure to comply with the PSE’s reportorial requirements.

The telco has since wiped out its debt after facilitating a debt-to-equity conversion of ₱8.9 billion, which cleared ₱9.3 billion in capital deficiency.

This stemmed from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approval of PT&T’s capital stock increase from ₱3.8 billion to ₱12.6 billion in 2023.

Last year, Velasquez said the company is aiming to secure PSE approval within the requirements outlined in its rehabilitation plan.

Now, he explained that this plan is already in its “tail end.”

“It’s in the process. So, there are still a few things that we need to complete. But I would say 90 percent of what we need to do has been completed,” he said.

PT&T has yet to disclose its full financial report for 2024, but in the first nine months, it reported a net income of ₱11.6 million—a 120-percent increase from the ₱57.4-million net loss during the same period in the previous year.

Based on its disclosure, PT&T is ramping up its network expansion this year with a plan to expand to Northern Luzon. It said this will serve at least 40 percent of the country’s population.

The company is also looking into deploying fiber optic infrastructure, including terrestrial and submarine networks, to support its network services.