PLDT revenues from postpaid business hit P17.6 B in 9 mos

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) posted double-digit growth both in terms of revenues and subscribers from its postpaid business in the first nine months on the back of rollout of relevant content offerings and affordable plans.

In a statement, PLDT’s wireless subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. said its combined postpaid revenues with Digitel Mobile Philippines, Inc. (Sun Cellular) rose 11 percent to P17.6 billion in the first nine months compared to P15.9 billion last year.

Postpaid revenues now account for 24 percent of total wireless revenues compared to 21 percent in the same period last year.

The increase in postpaid revenues was seen amid a larger subscriber base.

As of end-September, Smart and Sun had a combined postpaid subscriber base of 2.9 million, a 10 percent uptick from the previous year.

Of the 2.9 million subscribers, Sun accounted for 1.74 million and the rest or 1.18 million are Smart subscribers.

“Strategic brand positioning, and affordable data volume plans bundled with relevant content such as iflix, Fox, MCA and Sony Music pushed demand for data services on top of voice and SMS,” Ariel Fermin, PLDT executive vice president and group head of consumer business said.

“Our exclusive partnership with popu- lar app-based ride sharing service, Uber, and community-driven hospitality company, Airbnb, enabled our subscribers to make the most out of their mobile devices and embrace the Smart Life,” he added.

The Smart Life campaign launched in June of this year, covers various gamechanging digital products and services subscribers can use anytime and anywhere.

“We are going beyond providing access. We are giving our subscribers the opportunity to experience the latest digital services to make their lives better, easier, more productive, and lot more convenient every day. They can choose from a wide range of plans bundled with the latest devices to suit their lifestyles,” Fermin said.

Aside from the content offerings, the attractive handset packages also helped drive growth for the postpaid business.

For example, under Smart’s special offer from Nov. 6 until Dec. 31, consumers can get an iPhone 6s free at Plan 2000 under a 30-month contract inclusive of a super-sized 10-GB (gigabyte) data allowance for videos, music and games, as well as All-Month Surf to access websites and apps like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Viber, Whatsapp, Line and Messenger.