Globe Telecom, a mobile operator in the Philippines, said its Capex will be P63 billion or $1.2 billion in 2019 against P43.3 billion or $821 million in 2018.

Globe Telecom is set to start offering the first 5G Globe At Home service by the second quarter of 2019. The increase in the Capex reflect the company’s focus on building 5G network.

The focus of Globe Telecom in 2018 was in the rapid expansion of LTE coverage to address the data traffic growth. Globe Telecom spent about 77 percent of the total Capex in data-related services in 2018.

Gil B. Genio is the chief technology and information officer and chief strategy officer of Globe Telecom. Maria Aurora Sy-Manalang is the chief information officer (CIO) of Globe Telecom.

Globe Telecom 5G readiness was recognized by Asia’s top telcos and vendors at TM Forum Digital Transformation Asia 2018.

The project focused on 5G network slicing, which lets the telco provide portions of its network for varying use cases. The goal is to demonstrate that network slices can be dynamically created as well as managed with minimal human intervention and time-to-market, and without affecting other network slices.

Ernest L Cu, president and CEO of Globe Telecom, said: “We will build network capacities to improve the internet experience as we re-invest our gains back to our network, which is now close to 33 percent of our revenues.”

Globe Telecom revenue

Mobile subscriber base reached 74.1 million in December 2018. Home broadband subscriber base grew 24 percent to over 1.6 million. 61 percent of home broadband subscribers are home wireless subscribers.

Globe Telecom reported service revenues of P132.9 billion, mobile revenues of P99.5 billion, mobile data revenues of P50.8 billion in 2018.

Mobile data accounts for 51 percent of gross mobile service revenues from 44 percent a year ago. Mobile voice and mobile SMS revenues stood at P28.5 billion and P20.2 billion, respectively.

Globe’s home broadband business ended the year with total revenues of P18.6 billion, due to the subscriber expansion in fixed wireless solutions, in particular the growing popularity of the Home Prepaid Wifi product.

Corporate data business revenue was P11.8 billion in 2018.

Globe Telecom’s operating expenses and subsidy was P67.7 billion, leading to consolidated EBITDA of P65.1 billion, with an EBITDA margin of 49 percent. Net income closed at P18.6 billion, primarily from the gains in EBITDA.

Baburajan K