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BAYAN
Telecommunications Inc. is set to complete next month
the third-phase of its network expansion valued at P1.5
billion.
This
early the telco expects its subscriber base to reach
200,000 by end-2008, or 53-percent higher than last
year’s level. The project aims to expand the capacity of
Bayan’s wireless landline network to handle 300,000
subscribers.
At
end-June this year, the Lopez-controlled telco
registered 160,000 wireless landline subscribers.
“We are
on track to meet our target even if the overall
situation looks gloomy. We do not see a slowdown in
terms of product usage because there is a strong demand
for our services,” said Bayan chief executive consultant
Tunde Fafunwa in an interview yesterday.
“We are
ending Phase 3 of our network expansion. After that, we
will start preparing for the next phase of the
deployment of base stations,” said Fafunwa.
For
Phase 3 of the project, Bayan has partnered with Huawei
of China, one of the world’s leading vendors in wireless
technologies, to deploy a more robust and equipped
wireless landline service.
Details
of Phase 4 are still being worked on. “We are still
finalizing Phase 4. We continue to expand and improve
the coverage of our wireless landline service which now
covers all of Metro Manila and key cities nationwide,”
added Fafunwa.
Bayan’s
wireless landline offers unlimited local calling and
texting within a metro area and free calls and texts to
any Bayan landline nationwide. It also offers standard
rates for calls to cellular phones (P6.50/minute) and
one of the lowest overseas phone-call rates in the
market today.
Bayan’s
wireless landline revenues grew by 366 percent as of
end-June, and now accounts for 23 percent of the total
revenue of the company, from only 10 percent during the
same period last year. The major initiatives behind the
revenue growth are focused selling activities, improved
quality of service and a strong marketing push such as
the Free 100 plan launched in April of this year.
Bayan
reported strong revenue performance from its voice
business, driven by the impressive take-up of its
wireless landline service, and from its data and
Internet business buoyed by strong demand for DSL and
corporate data services. Its total revenue in the first
half of the year grew to P3.07 billion, up 18 percent
from P2.6 billion during the same period in 2007.
Despite
strong revenues, Bayan booked a net loss of P1.57
billion for the first six months of the year versus a
net income of P414 million last year when the peso value
was stronger.
Bayan
said the weaker value of the peso resulted in unrealized
foreign exchange losses.
For the
second half of the year, Fafunwa said Bayan is still
expected to post a net loss. “We certainly do not see
any major change in our bottom line because of the
continued weakening of the peso versus the dollar. But
we do expect to post 10-percent to 15-percent increase
in our revenues this year,” he added. |
