Philippines-based Globe Telecom posted double-digit growth in profit and revenue in the first nine months of 2018, driven by strong mobile data and subscriber gains.

Net income rose 13 per cent year-on-year to PHP14.6 billion ($276 million) at end-September, on consolidated revenue of PHP111 billion, up 10 per cent.

Mobile revenue accounted for 77 per cent of the total: the figure was up 8 per cent to PHP79.1 billion, with growth driven by a 26 per cent jump in mobile data revenue to PH39.5 billion. The rise was partly offset by declines in both voice and SMS services, down 5 per cent apiece.

Data accounted for 49 per cent of total mobile service revenues in Q3, up from 43 per cent in Q3 2017.

Rising capex
The operator said depreciation expenses remained at an elevated level given its continued network expansion and acceleration of its LTE and broadband rollout. Capex for the January to September period totalled PHP32.5 billion, representing nearly 32 per cent of revenue. In a statement, Globe Telecom said it is on target to achieve a commitment to the government to deploy LTE services to 95 per cent of cities and municipalities nationwide by the year-end.

Its mobile subscribers rose 10 per cent from end-September 2017 to nearly 65.4 million. Prepaid subs increased 11 per cent year-on-year to 62.8 million, while post paid subs were up 2 per cent to 2.5 million.

Post paid ARPU was stable at PHP1,175, and prepaid ARPU increased 10 per cent to PHP124.

LTE base stations accounted for 66 per cent of its total 40,522 sites at the end of September.

Globe Telecom held a 53 per cent market share in Q3, while rival Smart (the wireless unit of PLDT) had 47 per cent, data from GSMA Intelligence showed.