Globe Telecom's Q1 net profit fell 76% year-on-year to 656 million pesos ($16.1 million), due to heavy spending on customer acquisitions and its network and IT modernization programs.
The Philippine operator reported a 6% increase in revenue for the quarter to 21.4 billion pesos. Globe attributed the growth to its mobile business, and in particular gains in data services revenue.
Mobile revenues grew 3% year-on-year to 17.12 billion pesos, while wireless broadband revenue climed 34% to 2.49 billion pesos.
Globe ended the quarter with 35.1 million mobile subscribers and 1.7 million broadband customers.
Globe CEO Ernest Cu said he was “encouraged” by the quarterly results, “despite the continued challenges raised by competition and in the midst of this most critical period as we complete our network and IT modernization programs.”
But reinvestments in acquisitions to secure and retain subscribers and depreciation costs linked to the upgrade programs took their toll on Globe's bottom line.
The first phase of the program concluded in the third quarter, with 60% of Globe's mobile network now upgraded to HSPA+.
Globe is also on track to completing a third new subsea cable connection, and said the company has now added over 6,000km of fiber to its existing infrastructure.