Mindanaotoday.com | Globe Group posts solid 4Q, full year results
THE Globe Group closed the year with all-time high consolidated service revenues reaching P158.0 billion, up 4% year-on-year.
Corporate data and mobile services, complemented by the continuous growth from non-telco services, mainly drove the topline expansion as more Filipinos adopt the digital lifestyle.
Total data revenues as a percentage of total consolidated service revenues increased to 81% from 80% last year.
The mobile business sustained its upward performance, ending the year with P107.5 billion compared to P104.4 billion reported the previous year and the second highest in company history.
The revenue improvement came mostly from prepaid with greater public mobility and the resumption of face-to-face classes and work.
Total mobile revenues comprised 68% of the total service revenues, with the total mobile customer base ending at 86.7 million in 2022.
From a product perspective, mobile data revenues posted a record P83.8 billion for the full year of 2022 or 8% higher versus P77.8 billion in 2021.
Mobile data traffic likewise soared to 4,658 petabytes as of end-December of 2022, surpassing the 3,733 petabytes reported in the preceding year.
Mobile data now accounts for 78% of mobile revenues from 75% last year. On the other hand, mobile voice and mobile SMS revenues ended at P14.9 billion and P8.8 billion, lower year-on-year by 13% and 5%, respectively.
With Globe’s expanded fiber footprint, postpaid fiber subscribers and revenues posted a year-on-year increase of 35% and 84%, respectively.
The increasing fiber adoption among Globe customers drove the continued migration of home prepaid wifi (HPW) subscribers to fiber.
However, this increase in fiber revenues was not enough to cover the decline in the legacy businesses, as the Home Broadband business further declined in the fourth quarter, ending the year at only P27.1 billion from P29.4 billion a year earlier.
Similarly, total Home Broadband subscriber count now stands at 2.6 million or down by 30% year-on-year, with HPW data traffic declining to only 450 petabytes as of end-December 2022 from 808 petabytes a year ago Despite the performance of the fiber business, the addressable postpaid fiber market has reached saturation levels with the wider market remaining underserved.
Public clamor for reliable and more importantly, affordable internet connectivity continues.
In response to this, Globe has shifted its focus to prepaid fiber, which it believes will open the industry to a new segment that could potentially drive the next phase of growth for the Home Broadband industry.
One such prepaid offering is TMBayan Fiber WiFi, a public WiFi service where subscribers can connect their devices and have access to the internet.
With this service, sari-sari stores, town plazas, community centers and other neighborhood convergence areas can become WiFi hotspots.
As of end-January 31, 2023, Globe has fired up 652 TMBayan Fiber WiFi hubs in the National Capital Region (NCR); Luzon including Bulacan, Pampanga, Cavite, and Laguna; Visayas, specifically, Cebu and Tacloban; and Mindanao, including Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, and Zamboanga.
Globe expects to launch even more prepaid fiber products into the market by the 2nd quarter of 2023, to complement its current fiber offering. (PR | Globe)
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