Globe Telecom issued optimistic guidance for 2022, looking to extend growth booked in 2021 as it continues to spend heavily to rollout 5G services and a nationwide fibre network.

President and CEO Ernest Cu explained in its earnings statement an adaptation of its strategy to cope with the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and natural disasters meant Globe Telecom’s performance in 2021 remained on the right track.

He cited financial stability and “healthy growth” which enabled Globe Telecom to “reinvest back into our network” to match increasing demand for data services.

The operator stated it is “guardedly optimistic” on maintaining momentum, forecasting low single-digit growth in revenue and setting a capex budget slightly down on the PHP92.8 billion ($1.8 billion) outlay in 2021.

At a glance

• Net profit for 2021 grew 27 per cent year-on-year to PHP23.7 billion.
• Consolidated service revenue rose 4 per cent to PHP151.5 billion.
• Mobile data revenue grew 7.3 per cent to PHP77.8 billion, accounting for 75 per cent of mobile turnover compared with 70 per cent in 2020.
• Mobile service revenue grew 1 per cent to PHP104.4 billion.
• Voice revenue fell 15 per cent to PHP17.2 billion and SMS 16 per cent to PHP9.4 billion.
• It added 3.2 million prepaid subscribers for a total of 84.3 million, with post-paid flat at 2.5 million.
• Prepaid ARPU rose 6 per cent to PHP97, while post-paid fell 3 per cent to PH776.