Smart rebounds on 5% revenue growth, higher spending
Published Mar 2, 2026 09:02 pm
Smart Communications Inc. returned to growth in the final three months of 2025, overcoming a sluggish start to the year as higher-spending customers and the surge in 5G adoption bolstered the wireless unit of PLDT Inc.
The carrier reported a five percent increase in fourth-quarter revenue compared with the previous three-month period, a reversal from the beginning of 2024, when revenues slipped two percent, and suggests that a pivot toward “value-led growth” is beginning to yield results.
Smart executives attributed the rebound to a strategy of personalized digital promotions that successfully lifted average revenue per user, or ARPU—a critical metric of profitability in the telecommunications sector.
During the fourth quarter, Smart Prepaid recorded a five percent sequential increase in ARPU, while its mass-market brand, TNT, saw a three percent uplift. This growth in spending per customer was complemented by the rise in the total subscriber base. Smart added 606,079 net new users in the quarter, while managing to keep its churn rate—the measure of customers leaving the service—at 2.5 percent by the end of December.
The company’s heavy investment in 5G infrastructure emerged as the primary engine for the recovery. Smart reported that 11.2 million devices were “latched” to its 5G network by the end of 2025, a 35 percent jump from the previous year.
As the cost of 5G-compatible smartphones fell, data usage on the high-speed network soared, with 5G data traffic increasing 88 percent year-on-year. This shift also benefitted the company’s home broadband efforts; fixed wireless access revenues rose 22 percent to ₱1.8 billion for the full year, driven by the popularity of 5G-enabled routers.
Lloyd R. Manaloto, first vice president and co-officer-in-charge of Smart, said the year-end results reflect “solid progress” in strengthening customer value.
Marjorie C. Garrovillo, who shares the co-officer-in-charge role with Manaloto, said the carrier is focused on scaling 5G adoption as the Philippines’ digital economy expands.
Management remains optimistic that the combination of rising device penetration and continued network capital expenditure will unlock further data demand in the coming year.
He noted that the company exited the year with momentum that positions the business for more sustainable growth in 2026. The network’s technical performance also received third-party validation, with Ookla naming Smart the leader in “Best Mobile Latency” for the first half of 2025, a metric crucial for the growing mobile gaming and livestreaming markets.the