Cellular, broadband lift Globe Telecom earnings

PHILIPPINES--Telecommunications giant Globe Telecom reported US$221 million in net profits for the first nine months of the year, a 4 percent year-on-year growth buoyed by strong demand for its cellular phone and broadband offerings.

In a statement released last week, the Philippines' second largest telecommunications company added that its revenues increased 11 percent year-on-year to reach US$1.1 billion. This figure is a new record high, according to the service provider.

A major portion of the profits came from broadband and cellular services, the company said.

Controlled by Philippine conglomerate Ayala Group, and partly owned by Singapore carrier SingTel, Globe Telecom did not reveal specific earnings for its cellular business, disclosing only that core net income rose to US$245 million, or a year-on-year growth of 20 percent.

The company reported that it ended the first nine months with more than 19 million mobile phone customers, registering more than 1 million subscribers alone in the third quarter.

It further reported that its broadband revenues reached US$19.6 million, doubling the company's broadband subscriber base to 109,000 from last year.

"Supported by a buoyant economy, Globe Telecom's wireless business continued to benefit from strong sales efforts and targeted marketing initiatives, enabling the business to sustain double-digit subscriber growth across all its brands," the company said.

The Philippine carrier, however, did not disclose earnings per quarter.

Cable system participation
In other news, Globe Telecom will participate in efforts to build a trans-pacific cable system, an initiative spearheaded by India's Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL).

The Philippine service provider is the exclusive "landing party" of the cable system, which will link the Philippines, Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as provide a direct connection to Guam and the West Coast in the United States.

VSNL has selected American company Tyco to construct the four fiber-pair cable system.

In a separate statement, VSNL said the new cable system--estimated to cost US$200 million--would provide an additional to 3.8Terabits per second (Tbps) in capacity to the rapidly growing Asia-Pacific market. The Indian Internet service provider is also looking to expand the reach of the cable system to other Asian countries.

The system will be up and running by June 2008, according to the VSNL statement.

Joel D. Pinaroc is a freelance IT writer based in the Philippines.