MANILA, Philippines, May 22, 2012 – PLDT continues to lead the Philippine broadband market with its revenues from broadband and internet increasing by 34% to P5.8 billion in the first three months of the year compared with the same period last year. This brings the combined broadband subscriber base of the PLDT Group to more than three million as of end-March, representing nearly 65% market share.

"We remain excited by the potentials of the broadband business where PLDT has taken an early lead in the market, enabled by the strength of our integrated network and our focus on providing quality experience to the customer," PLDT and Smart President and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno said.

He said that PLDT's growth momentum in broadband continued with revenues in the first quarter now accounting for 14% of consolidated service revenues.

Of the total broadband revenues in the first quarter, PLDT DSL generated P2.6 billion, up by 15% compared with the same period last year. Smart Communications Inc. generated P1.7 billion in revenues for its wireless broadband services while the Digitel group contributed P800 million. Smart’s mobile internet revenues for the first quarter of 2012 increased by 71% year-on-year to P600 million.

“We continue to expand our broadband offerings, be it handset-driven or usage-based. Prices of smartphones are fast approaching the ‘sweet spot’ of US$100 or around P4,200 which is when we expect mobile phones to become the Internet access point of choice for Filipinos,” said Orlando B. Vea, Smart Chief Wireless Advisor.

Nazareno pointed out that PLDT’s broadband profitability would be enhanced by increases in volume-based offers and implementation of fair usage policies.

On top of these, he said that PLDT would have an expanded menu of products that provide upselling opportunities, including the introduction of variants differentiated by speed and price points such as the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and the SmartBro dongle offers, and bundles that optimize fixed and wireless service delivery platforms with content.

"We anticipate making available more tiered or differentiated services that offer varying speeds and price points to our customers, including fiber-to-the-home, as well as bundled products such as WiFi service outside the home for DSL subscribers and direct-to-home or DTH content packages in addition to our fixed line service," Nazareno pointed out.

He stressed that the competitive advantages and cost efficiencies enjoyed by PLDT as an integrated network operator are a result of many years of consistent investment in extensive fixed line and wireless infrastructure.

PLDT has embarked into a two-year P67 billion network modernization program that is expected to be completed this year. This entails the expansion and upgrade of the core, access, transport and backroom support elements of the PLDT network to ensure superior quality of experience for our customers even with the rapidly rising levels of voice, SMS, and broadband traffic at superior quality levels. The capex commitment also supports the continuing shift of PLDT’s fixed lines to a Next Generation Network with an all-IP platform.