23% JUMP IN H1 REVENUE HELPS PT&T CUT LOSSES

Demand for broadband services boosted Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp.’s (PT&T) revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic.

PT&T said revenue in the first semester of 2020 rose 23 percent to P217 million over the same period last year. It cited a 22-percent increase in broadband connections.

The gains helped the company narrow losses to P19.5 million during the first half of the year. It posted a P35.7-million loss during the same period in 2019.

“We all have to live with the business uncertainty brought about by the pandemic for the foreseeable future,” James Velasquez, president and chief executive of PT&T, said in a statement over the weekend.

“PT&T is here to bridge the technology gap and support the digital transformation needs of Filipinos and businesses with our combined connectivity and IT (information technology) services. Since last year we have managed to transform our offerings and be a digital services provider,” he added.

PT&T said demand “snowballed” during the quarantine as more Filipinos shifted to telecommuting, e-commerce, digital play, online learning and banking.

Apart from broadband revenues, PT&T said IT services gained traction and accounted for 10 percent of revenues this year.

PT&T stayed operational during community quarantine in the country to provide existing and prospective clients their much-needed connectivity and IT solutions services.

The company has network assets of 14,000 poles, equivalent to 13,500 fiber kilometers.

As such, it covers almost 40 percent of the total Philippine population in high growth developing areas.

PT&T holds a 25-year franchise that allows the company to establish, maintain and operate both wired and wireless telecommunications systems for domestic and international communication in the country.