Globe Telecom has revealed that its Capex will be $1.2 billion or Php63 billion in 2020 for network expansion as compared with Capex of P51 billion or around $989 million in 2019.
Globe Telecom’s Capex in 2019 rose 18 percent from a year ago and represents 34 percent of gross service revenues and 67 percent of EBITDA.

“Bulk of the all-time high spend went to data-related requirements, comprising 79 percent, as the company continued to invest in the Philippines towards enabling Filipino families and businesses,” Ernest L. Cu, president and CEO of Globe Telecom, said.

Globe has added 139 percent more sites versus 2018 and also added more 3G and 4G base stations, putting up 28 percent more than last year. Globe achieved 16 percent increase in LTE download and 6 percent increase in upload speeds, and 9 percent increase in latency in the 4th quarter of 2019. The growth in mobile data traffic was 58 percent.

Globe said its service revenues rose 12 percent to P149 billion. Data revenues account for 71 percent of total service revenues versus 61 percent reported last year. EBITDA stood at P76 billion with EBITDA margin of 51 percent from 49 percent in 2018.

Globe Telecom mobile business revenues rose 12 percent to P111.8 billion. Mobile revenues remained the largest revenue contributor accounting for 75 percent of the service revenues led by the company’s prepaid brands. Mobile subscriber base rose 27 percent to 94.2 million last year.

Mobile data revenues generated P71.8 billion in 2019 from nearly P51 billion last year, mainly driven by the surging demand for video streaming, gaming apps and social media, further boosted by the compelling promotions for higher-value data centric plans.

Mobile data accounts for 64 percent of mobile revenues from 51 percent a year ago. Mobile data traffic leapt from 956 petabytes in 2018 to 1,699 petabytes in 2019, a 78 percent growth year-on-year.

Mobile voice and mobile SMS revenues ended at P24.3 billion and P15.7 billion, lower year-on-year by 15 percent and 22 percent, respectively, as usage continues to shift towards IP/OTT-based communications.

Home Broadband business revenues rose 17 percent to P21.7 billion, driven by a rising level of fixed wireless broadband users reaching close to 1.4 million (up 40 percent year-on-year). Total home broadband subscriber base now stands at over 2 million, up 25 percent from a year ago.