PLDT eyes investors in data center unit

PLDT Inc. said over the weekend it held exploratory talks with financial advisers to bring in potential investors in its data center business.

“We have just exploratory discussions with them and just really feeling out what the market has to offer, but we have not formally started the process,” PLDT president and chief executive Alfredo Panlilio said.

Panlilio also clarified that the company had no “real decision” yet on the sale of a minority stake in its data center

assets.

“Right now, we continue to review that,” he said, adding that the company was “very busy” in completing its 11th data center.

“In fact, we’re thinking whether we should take a look at the 12th [data center] obviously depending on demand that we’re seeing from the customers and hyperscalers,” Panlilio said.

The company’s unit ePLDT is building its 11th data center in the Philippines on a five-hectare property in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

VITRO Sta. Rosa will have an initial power capacity of 14 megawatts by early 2024 and will further increase to 50 MW once fully operational, which will make it the largest and most advanced data center in the Philippines.

It said ePLDT operates the widest data center network in the country, offering a total rack capacity of nearly 10,000 to meet the requirements of local and global enterprises across various key industries.

The company expanded its VITRO Makati 2, its largest operational data center to-date, with an additional 12MW capacity that will power nearly 1,600 new racks.

This will bring VM2’s total capacity to 3,360 racks running on 20 MW of total power capacity, representing an increase of 150 percent.

It said ePLDT’s strategy to rapidly invest in more capacity was driven by the accelerated adoption of digital financial services, e-commerce, digital media and the government’s strong push for digitalization and regional competitiveness.

The Department of Trade and Industry is promoting the Philippines as a hub for hyperscale computing companies in Southeast Asia.

PLDT earlier reported a 60-percent drop in net income to P10.48 billion last year from P26.36 billion in 2021.

Telco core profit, which excludes the impact of asset sales and Voyager Innovations, reached P33.1 billion in 2022, up from P30.23 billion in 2021.

The company said it budgeted P80 billion to P85 billion in 2023 capital expenditures, lower than the P96.8-billion capex last year.