Globe Telecom’s mobile business benefitted from a rise in ARPU and post-paid users, along with a drop in capex in the first nine months, with revenue rising despite declines in voice and SMS. 

President and CEO Ernest Cu stated its non-telecoms businesses contributed to its overall growth and resilience.

“We will continue to look for opportunities to thrive amidst the macroeconomic challenges and competition.”

Non-telecoms revenue grew 44 per cent year-on-year to PHP4.1 billion ($73.5 million).

Net profit fell 27 per cent to PHP19.4 billion on higher depreciation and non-operating charges, along with the comparable period being boosted by a gain stemming from the partial sale of its data centre business. 

Total revenue rose 3 per cent to PHP133.8 billion, with mobile service up the same to PHP83.2 billion, offsetting a 2 per cent decline in fixed line and home broadband sales to PHP33.8 billion.

Mobile voice revenue fell 11 per cent to PHP10.2 billion and SMS 10 per cent to PHP6 billion.

Prepaid ARPU rose 25 per cent to PHP121, with post-paid flat on PHP848.

The operator’s prepaid users fell 38 per cent to 52.2 million due to a SIM registration push and post-paid rose 2 per cent to 2.6 million. 

Capex dropped 27 per cent to PHP54 billion, as the operator continued a capital efficiency and optimisation programme.

It deployed 833 new base stations including 5G sites and upgraded 5,395 to LTE.

The operator logged 5.2 million 5G devices on the network in September.