PLDT Inc.'s Q12024 Telco Core Income Grew By 8% to P9.3 Billion; Reported Net Income at P9.8 Billion was Higher By 9%

PLDT Inc. (PLDT) reported that its Gross Service Revenues increased by 5%, or P2.5 billion, to P52.2 billion, while Consolidated Service Revenues (net of interconnect expenses) increased by 3%, or P1.6 billion, to P48.7 billion in the first quarter of 2024. Data and broadband increased by 5%, or P2.0 billion, to P40.5 billion, accounting for 83% of Consolidated Service Revenue. Consolidated Service Revenues increased by 8% after adjusting for legacy revenues.

“We continue to squeeze growth out of an industry that seems bound by gravity. That said, our first quarter results are encouraging. We are determined to break past this gravitational hold,” said Manuel V Pangilinan, PLDT and Smart Chairman and CEO.
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Consolidated EBITDA increased by 5%, or P1.3 billion, year on year to a record P27.3 billion in the first three months of 2024, driven by stronger revenues. EBITDA margin was 52% over time.

Telco Core Income, excluding the impact of asset sales and Maya Innovations Holdings, was P9.3 billion, up 8% or P0.7 billion from the same quarter previous year, owing to improved EBITDA, which was somewhat offset by an increase in finance expenses and tax provisions. 

Reported income was P9.8 billion in the first quarter of 2024, up 9% year over year.
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As of the end of March 2024, consolidated net debt was P242.2 billion, with a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 2.29x. Gross debt totaled P257.0 billion, with maturities spaced out. 15% of gross debt is denominated in US dollars, whereas 5% is unhedged. Moody's and S&P Global maintained their investment-grade credit ratings for PLDT.

PLDT's Individual Wireless division started the year strong, with revenues of P21.1 billion in the first quarter, up 7% year on year, or P1.3 billion.

Mobile data sales, which now account for 89% of total individual wireless revenues, increased by 11% to P18.8 billion due to enhanced data monetization, with blended ARPU up 21% compared to a 10% increase in average usage.
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Active data users increased to 39.4 million, with average data usage per subscriber reaching 11.6 GB, up from 10.6 GB the previous year. Mobile data traffic climbed by 9% year on year, reaching 1,304 petabytes.

As of the end of March 2024, Smart has 59 million mobile customers.

PLDT Home's fiber-only service sales rose 7%, or P0.9 billion, to P13.7 billion in the first quarter of 2024. Fiber-only revenues made up 92% of total home revenues of P15.0 billion.
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As of March 31, 2024, the total number of fiber subscribers was 3.2 million. Fiber coverage has reached 19,300 barangays, with fiber presence at 70%. 

PLDT Enterprise, the PLDT Group's B2B segment, delivered strong results in the first quarter of 2024, with net service revenues reaching P12.1 billion. This expansion was powered by a significant push in corporate data and ICT.

ICT revenues increased 13% year on year, driven by growth in Cloud Services, Managed Services, and Cybersecurity Solutions.

ePLDT, the PLDT group's ICT subsidiary, founded VITRO Inc., the PLDT Group's data center arm, to ensure a deliberate focus on digital infrastructure development and to accelerate the growth of its data center business, which ended the quarter with over 5,600 data center racks and an occupancy rate of more than 70%.
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Construction of VITRO Sta. Rosa (VSR), its largest and most advanced facility to date, is still on target to go live in July, activating an initial 10 MW of IT power. With its Page 4 of 12 ambitious data center expansions, VITRO plans to increase its facility capacity to 99.5 MW once VSR is fully operating.

PLDT Global leads the group's foreign sales and marketing efforts for enterprise connectivity, communications, and data center products. It focuses on and grows in major industry categories such as hyperscalers, content network delivery aggregators, global enterprises, carriers, and service providers.

The PLDT Group's fiber footprint remains unsurpassed and the largest in the Philippines. Homes passed nearly 18.0 million in 70% of the country's towns and 91% of regions.
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Smart's combined 5G/4G network serves around 97% of the population.

On April 30, 2024, PLDT completed its investment in Radius Telecoms, Inc. (Radius) by subscribing to 2,491,516 shares of Radius' common stock, representing 34.9% equity interest in Radius, a company that operates an end-to-end full fiber optic network spanning more than 5,000 kilometers in Mega Manila and surrounding provinces, as well as Clark and Cebu. This investment is a deliberate step to strengthen PLDT's market position and grow its market share through a seamless integration of solution capabilities and market coverage, leveraging Radius' 100% fiber facilities.
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Maya is expediting the deployment of its loan services in 2024 to better serve the unbanked and underbanked, cementing its position as the Philippines' leading digital bank. As of March 31, 2024, it had disbursed P34 billion in loans to over a million borrowers since its inception. Notably, the Maya study shows that 59% of its borrowers use Maya as their first and only bank to obtain credit, showcasing digital banking as the most convenient option for the unbanked and underbanked. 
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Maya cements its position as the Philippines' payment backbone by allowing thousands of large, small, and micro companies to accept digital payments. In Q1 2024, Maya processed 45% of the overall volume and 50% of the total value of merchant payments using national QR Ph standards. Maya has recently begun to provide banking services to businesses, allowing merchants to register business deposit accounts digitally and granting uncollateralized working capital loans up to P2 million.

PLDT has acquired a P4.0 billion green loan from Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company (Metrobank). This is PLDT's first green loan, obtained from a local financial institution. Similar to PLDT's initial P1.0 billion green loan from HSBC Philippines in March, the loan proceeds will be used to expand PLDT's fiber footprint nationwide, thereby not only narrowing the country's digital divide but also ensuring a fast and reliable internet experience facilitated by an energy-efficient network.

“In 2024, we expect our Consolidated Service Revenues and EBITDA to grow in the mid-single digit range, driven by robust increases in data and broadband revenue streams of the various business segments and supported by top-line growth and tight cost management. Our guidance for our Telco Core Income is north of P35.0 billion,” Pangilinan said.

"While we recognize the realities of market saturation and higher capital expenditures as factors in slowing growth, we do not accept them as excuses for PLDT and Smart to stop delivering value to our stakeholders. Only an obsession with growth will get us to escape velocity. When we see the 7% average total shareholder return (TSR) for telcos, our goal Page 7 of 12 shouldn’t be to exceed it—our goal should be to set a new benchmark, one that challenges the lofty returns of the best tech companies," Pangilinan added. 

PLDT is among the global organizations recognized at the prestigious World Procurement Awards 2024, for having achieved procurement excellence. The only Philippine company shortlisted, PLDT was nominated under the Ivalua Procurement Excellence Award category, which recognizes organizations and teams that have successfully delivered tangible and quantifiable results through advanced approaches to spend management. PLDT and Smart also emerged as the top Philippine telco among local companies recognized at the 11th annual Asia-Pacific Stevie® Awards. The group copped a total of 12 Stevies®—three golds, six silvers, and three bronze awards, for innovation in the areas of content marketing, corporate social responsibility, customer service, diversity and inclusion, multi- and social media, product development, and special events.