MANILA -- PLDT Inc. has increased the revenue of its Home Business group by 10 percent year-on-year, driven by robust consumer demand for broadband services, to end 2018 with a hefty PHP36.4 billion.
The demand for Home broadband Internet services was generated by increased consumption of online video streaming content, the company's top management said.
“Several recent studies have shown that Filipinos are among the most enthusiastic users of online video in the world. We are now watching more video online than through broadcast TV,” Oscar Reyes Jr., PLDT-Smart Senior Vice President and Consumer Business Market Development Head, said in a statement on Monday.
For the past year, around 245,000 new subscribers of the company have availed of its fiber-optic internet services, which increased the number of its total Home broadband subscriber base to more than 1.9 million.
The increase in the subscribers caused a surge in PLDT Home data service revenues by 33 percent to PHP27.5 billion, which accounted for 75 percent of total Home revenues.
PLDT has likewise expanded the coverage of its fiber-powered fixed network by 57 percent to 6.3 million homes, as well as the available capacity of its fixed broadband network to 2.6 million ports.
To support the expansion, PLDT added nearly 70,000 kilometers of fiber cables, expanding its total fiber network to over 244,000 kilometers by 2018, a 39 percent increase from end of 2017.
“With our aggressive network expansion, we were able to provide Filipinos everywhere in the country with the most powerful network, world-class products and diverse content that allow them to fully embrace and enjoy their digital lifestyles,” Reyes noted.
PLDT has allocated PHP78.4 billion in capital expenditures this year to fund the installation of its last-mile and customer-premises equipment, such as modems and optical network units for the delivery of broadband Internet to its residential customers. (PNA)
