RECORD-BREAKING revenues driven by solid growth in data consumption brought Globe Telecom Inc.’s bottomline to an all-time high of P16.5 billion in 2015, a 23-percent spike from the P13.4 billion recorded the year prior, a filing to the stock exchange showed.
The growth in Globe’s net income takes into consideration onetime gains coming from the sale of its 51-percent equity stake in Yondu Inc. and the acquisition of a 98.6-percent stake in Bayan Telecommunications Inc.
Globe’s core net income—which strips off onetime gains and losses—grew by 4 percent to P15.1 billion in 2015 from P14.5 billion in 2014.
In the same comparative periods, consolidated revenues of the company rose by 15 percent to P113.7 billion from P99 billion, while total operating expenses rose by a slower 14 percent to P67.9 billion from P59.8 billion.
Globe has consolidated its financial statement with that of Bayan starting the second half of 2015.
“The sustained revenue trajectory was driven by the solid growth in data consumption across all segments and the consolidation of the performance of Bayan in the second half of the year. The robust subscriber growth for both mobile and broadband, the increasing demand for mobile data and high-speed Internet connectivity for consumer and corporate clients, as well as the sustained execution excellence for the various product launches during the year, have paved the way for Globe’s continued success,” the disclosure read.
The company’s top line was largely driven by its mobile business, which grew 9 percent year on year to P85.1 billion from P78.1 billion.
The sustained upsurge in mobile-data revenues led to the mobile business’s continued growth trajectory. Mobile-data service revenues reached P22.1 billion in 2015, 55 percent higher than the P14.3 billion reported a year ago.
At the end of December 2015, Globe’s mobile subscriber base further breached the 50-million milestone, reaching 52.9 million, up a robust 20 percent from the 44 million subscribers reported in 2014. This was driven by the record-level gross acquisitions during the year and lower churn rates in both prepaid brands.
The company’s fixed line data business, likewise, improved year on year by 40 percent to reach P7.7 billion in 2015 from the P5.5 billion posted in 2014, as demand for data connectivity continues to surge, impacting customer expansion, circuit count increase and higher usage.
The strong demand for Internet and domestic leased lines, as well as cloud- computing solutions, contributed to the revenue growth in the fixed data business. The growth was, likewise, driven by the impact of consolidating Bayan’s fixed line data revenues starting the third quarter of 2015.
“We made history again in 2015, as Globe delivered a banner year, closing 2015 with record revenues, Ebitda and net income. We have proven year after year our strong commitment to create and deliver value for our customers and shareholders. Our latest achievements continue to motivate us to be more efficient, focused and ready to take on new challenges in the years ahead.” Globe President and CEO Ernest L. Cu said in the filing.
Globe spent around P32.1 billion in capital expenditures as of end-December 2015 to support the growing subscriber base and its demand for data. Of the total capital expenditures spent this year, close to half was for the data service needs of its customers. To date, Globe has a total of 28,336 base stations, with over 18,300 for 4G1, to support the service requirements of its customers.
“As we foresee an increasingly challenging competitive landscape moving forward, we will continue to strengthen our leadership in the digital space, gearing all our efforts toward uplifting the state of Internet services in the country and fortifying the Globe brand as a whole to be the customer’s first choice for all their data needs,” Cu said.
Globe has set an $800-million capital for 2016, bulk of which would be devoted mostly to enhancing bandwidth capacity “to enable us to stay ahead of the curve amid growing proliferation of smartphone and data-intensive multi-media applications.”