Telco giant PLDT Inc. announced on Thursday that its net income for the first quarter of 2023 slightly decreased by one percent to P9.015 billion compared to the same period last year, citing soaring inflation and seasonal dip in consumer spending.
Core income, which excludes the impact of asset sales and Voyager Innovations, rose five percent to ₱8.6 billion while service revenues, led by Home and Enterprise, increased by two percent to P47.1 billion.
Data and broadband contributed 82 percent of consolidated service revenues, growing by six percent to ₱38.5 billion.
The wireless segment showed stable revenues P19.8 billion despite the impact of SIM registration and continued high inflation. Mobile data revenues increased by four percent to P17 billion as data usage per subscriber and data traffic continued to record year-on-year increases.
Despite inflationary pressures, the company continues with its transformation initiatives to strengthen its core business and plan for growth strategies.
“Because of soaring inflationary pressures, we must strive to attain cost-efficiency and operational excellence in order to provide leveled-up customer experiences while keeping our products and services affordable for our subscribers,” said Alfredo S. Panlilio, president and CEO of PLDT and Smart.
For his part, PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan expressed his confidence in the company’s resilience, saying that the capital expenditure overrun issues have largely been resolved, and that telco giant is focused on keeping its products and services affordable while remaining profitable.
“It is time in 2023 for PLDT to face forward, and move on. We should now channel our energies towards keeping the PLDT Group well-positioned for growth amidst this challenging macro-economic environment,” he said.
Pangilinan also reiterated the company’s ambition to be an industry thought leader, employer of choice, and responsible corporate citizen by 2025.
“As we approach our 100th year, we forge ahead in pursuit of our greater dreams:
Enabling every Filipino, bringing families and communities together, and being a company that our countrymen can rely on. We look to the future with undiluted hope,” he said.
