PLDT sees revenue boost from fixed-line business

PLDT Inc. is seeing the consumer fixed-line and enterprise businesses as revenue growth drivers as the group is moving away from voice and text messaging to put more focus on data and digital services.

In a statement yesterday, PLDT said service revenues from the fixed-line business rose seven percent to P46.8 billion in the first nine months compared to the previous year, amid strong growth in its home and enterprise businesses.

The growth was seen even as most telcos around the world are posting declines in their fixed-line units.

“The battleground has shifted from wireless to fixed. And that plays to our strength because we have the most extensive fixed network infrastructure. We are for example aggressively bringing fiber to the home (FTTH), which today can already reach 2.5 million homes in different parts of the country,” PLDT chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan said.

PLDT’s consumer fixed-line business unit PLDT Home posted a revenue of P24.5 billion in the first nine months, up nine percent from a year ago.

Similarly, the enterprise business unit saw revenues post a 10 percent growth to P24.4 billion in the nine-month period.

Revenues are growing on the back of data services and digital solutions.

“We are building on the significant competitive advantages that these two business units enjoy. PLDT Home is already far ahead in the deployment of fixed line networks, particularly in FTTH, which is the cutting- edge technology for fixed- line services. But we are not stopping there. We are speeding up the deployment of FTTH in more areas of the country,” PLDT chief revenue officer Ernesto Alberto said.

PLDT now has over 140,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables, the most extensive fiber network in the country.