Philippine-based telco says 2012 is a year of investment in customers, networks, processes. Globe Telecom Inc., the country’s second-largest telecommunications company by revenue, said Tuesday first-quarter net profit declined 10% on year, weighed down by the cost of the company’s efforts to build up its cellular and broadband subscriber base as well as network upgrade expenses.
Globe said net profit in the January-March quarter dropped to PHP2.70 billion ($63.7 million) from PHP2.99 billion even as service revenue increased 6% to PHP20.2 billion–an all-time high for a single quarter–from PHP19.1 billion.
Core profit, which excludes one-time items, was down 7% in the first quarter to PHP2.74 billion from PHP2.96 billion. The first-quarter core profit, however, was up 48% from the PHP1.85 billion recorded in the fourth quarter last year.
“The industry is entering a new phase, and we see 2012 as a year of investments in our customers, in our networks, and in our systems and processes,” said President and Chief Executive Ernest Cu in a statement.”We expect to emerge from this investment period with significantly improved capabilities, well-positioned to grow and deliver enhanced value to all our stakeholders.”
Globe Telecom ended the first quarter with 31.0 million mobile subscribers, up 3% from the 30.0 million subscriber base it had at the end of 2011.