PLDT registers P16.5-B income in 9 months

PLDT Inc. saw its reported net income fall by a quarter in the nine months ending September behind the accelerated depreciation of the company’s assets.

PLDT’s reported net income for the nine-month period reached P16.5 billion, down 25 percent from the P21.9 billion recorded in the same period last year.

PLDT said its reported net income was impacted by the accelerated depreciation of P4.5 billion in connection with the shortened estimated useful life of network assets affected by the company’s network upgrade, as well as revaluation gain of P1.1 billion on the remaining Rocket Internet shares.

Consolidated service revenues, net of interconnection costs, however, reached P109 billion in the three quarters based on the new accounting standard, up two percent year-on-year.

PLDT said consolidated service revenues for the period grew by four percent year-onyear to P111.9 billion, with the third quarter revenue reaching P37.5 billion.

The third quarter was the seventh consecutive quarter showing service revenue growth for the company, PLDT said.

“Despite the extraordinary challenges posed by the DOLE order, we have sustained the double digit growth of Home and Enterprise and added momentum to the recovery of our individual wireless business,” said Ernesto Alberto, PLDT and Smart Executive vice president and chief revenue officer.

PLDT’s Home segment continued to lead the way for the group, growing revenues by 12 percent to P27.3 billion in the nine months and accounting for 24 percent of consolidated service revenues, 75 percent of which were contributed by data and broadband.

Revenues of the Enterprise segment, meanwhile, jumped by 10 percent year on year to P28.4 billion, representing 25 percent of total service revenues.