THE mobile unit of media conglomerate ABS-CBN Corp. is beefing up its efforts to more than double its current average revenue per user (Arpu) in order to hit breakeven.
Currently, mobile operator ABS-CBN Convergence Inc., the operator of ABS-CBNmobile, is enjoying an Arpu of P65, far bellow its target of P135 in average revenue per user. Still, the wireless services provider is in its early stages, as it only debuted in the market less than two years ago.
“Our breakeven is 2 million subscribers with an Arpu of P135. Obviously, the Arpu is a bit challenged: We are at P65 at the end of 2014,” ABS-CBN Corp. CFO Aldrin M. Cerrado said in an interview last week. “We can do extrapolation: If the increase in the number of subscribers is faster at 5 million subscribers with an Arpu of P65, it’s the same.”
But still, the media conglomerate hopes to grow its average revenue per user, a measure used by telecommunications companies to determine growth in the next few years.
“Hitting the 2-million subscriber mark and actually enticing subscribers to use the mobile phone is actually faster, I suppose, than hitting 5 million and remain at the P65 Arpu. The idea really is that we should have an Arpu higher than P100. We want to be in that level also,” Cerrado said.
To do this, he added, the media conglomerate will launch campaigns that will stimulate mobile-phone usage, specifically the consumption of ABS-CBN content.
“You’ll see that, in the coming months, we will launch campaigns from ABS-CBN and ABS-CBNmobile that will actually generate usage of ABS-CBNmobile. We capitalize on the content of ABS-CBN, so there will be a lot of activation campaigns,” the executive said.
As of end-February ABS-CBNmobile has a subscriber base of 1.7 million, with a daily activation of 10,000 customers a day. It is aiming to end 2015 with at least 3 million subscribers.
The Lopez family invested roughly P3 billion in 2013 to rollout its new telco business. ABS-CBN Convergence signed a five-year network-sharing agreement with Globe Telecom Inc. in May that year, allowing the Ayala-led telco to provide the mobile infrastructure through which ABS-CBN can deliver its media content.
Beyond traditional voice and text services, ABS-CBNmobile allows users to watch all the programs of ABS-CBN on their smartphones.
1 comment
I really like to see these news reporters ask intelligence questions when reporting about ABS-CBN numbers. For one ABS claims to have had 1.5 million subscribers by the end of Dec 2014. By the end of September 2014, ABS claim to have hit 1 million activations. Activation does not mean current subscribers. No churn rate was reported or asked. But with an ARPU of 65 pesos, it is silly to to accept that 1.5million subscriber number. Now ABS says that they have 10,000 activations per day but have only 1.7 subs by the end of February with the same ARPU. One does not need to have an above average IQ to figure out that ABS has subscribers far less that 1.7million with an ARPU of 65 pesos.