PLDT SVP and Head of Enterprise Business Juan Victor Hernandez
Leading telecoms and digital services provider PLDT sustained the momentum of its enterprise business, posting 9% growth to P18.7 billion, driven by strong demand for data and digital services as more companies and government agencies go digital.
Enterprise wireless services set the pace, posting revenue growth of 26% to P3.3 billion. This was powered by a 46% rise in Internet of Things/Machine-to-Machine (M2M) solutions, a 23% increase in corporate postpaid, and a 20% improvement in broadband revenues.
Fixed revenues grew by 5% year-on-year to P13.64 billion, as the 17% increase in broadband revenues and 8% rise in domestic data revenues compensated for declines in corporate voice and international data services.
ICT revenues, on the other hand, reached P1.8 billion, still growing at almost twice the rate of the overall market. Cloud and software-as-a-service revenues surged 35% and data center revenues grew 15%.
“The thinking among business and government managers is shifting from just improving productivity to ensuring future growth and competitiveness. They see that Tech is changing the rules of the game,” said PLDT Senior Vice President and Head of Enterprise Business Juan Victor Hernandez.
In line with this, for example, PLDT Enterprise recently signed up agreements to provide wireless connectivity services for several established and new transport network vehicle service companies (TNVS).
Similarly, there is rising interest in PLDT’s cyber security services as more companies shift more of their operations and customer services online.
“At PLDT, we’re committed to build the networks that will digitally enable industries that power the growth of our country’s economy. We have combined this with sustained efforts to develop the expertise and build strong relationships with our enterprise clients so that we can effectively serve the needs of their businesses,” he added.
PLDT’s rapid expansion of its fixed and mobile networks is providing the underpinning for the growth of its enterprise business.
“Our network expansion efforts are designed to help build next-wave cities where new businesses and industries can be set up and thus spread the benefits of economic growth to more areas of the country,” said Vic Tria, PLDT First Vice President and ALPHA Head.
PLDT Enterprise has for example been tapped as the ICT partner for the newest business hub in Central Luzon at the newly-built business center in Nueva Ecija, which will serve business process outsourcing companies and other enterprises that are moving out to second and third-tier urban areas.
Aside from private firms, local governments have been accelerating their shift to digital technologies.
“This year alone, we have announced several partnerships with new client LGUs that center on digital enablement. We are also expanding the range of services offered to LGUs from safety and security to digital payments. This provides fresh proof that data and digital services are becoming core and crucial to the lives of both businesses and communities,” Tria said.
PLDT’s ability to serve more LGUs has been enhanced by improved network reach and capacity.
As of end-June 2018, PLDT increased the coverage of its fiber-power fixed broadband network to 5.1 million homes passed, up from 4 million homes passed as of end-2017, and also boosted its capacity by almost 86% to 1.86 million ports. Moreover, PLDT added over 29,000 kilometers of fiber cable, increasing its fiber footprint to about 204,000 kilometers and further boosting the reach, capacity and resiliency of its fiber network.
Meantime, Smart installed over 3,900 new LTE base stations, boosting its total count by 45% to over 12,600. This has enabled Smart not only to improve its LTE coverage but also to activate LTE-Advance (LTE-A), which offers even higher data speeds, in more areas of the country.
As a result, PLDT and Smart have been recently recognized as the fastest fixed and mobile internet provider in the Philippines for the first half of 2018 by global leader in internet testing and analysis Ookla®. Based from nearly 30 million user-generated speedtests for fixed and over 2 million speedtests for mobile, both PLDT and Smart outpaced other providers in the country by almost double the score of the nearest competitor, helping raise the average internet speeds for the industry.
