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GLOBE Telecom Inc. is eyeing to double its broadband subscribers
this year as it capitalizes on its investments in new local and
international cable landing stations.
The telecom company’s broadband subscriber
base surged by 133 percent to 120,000 last year from 51,426 in 2006.
Its broadband service revenues jumped by 96
percent to P1.2 billion.
“We are bullish about the broadband business
and intend to intensify our efforts to build [a] more pervasive
network, using both wired and wireless technologies,” said Gerardo
Ablaza, Globe president.
For this year, the company is allotting $180
million for its broadband business from its $400-million to
$450-million capital expenditure.
The telco is investing $40 million to construct
a cable landing station in Cagayan because its facilities in Nasugbu,
Batangas, are vulnerable to earthquakes and other natural
calamities.
The Ayala-led telco, which is partly-owned by
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., Southeast Asia’s biggest, said
the new cable landing station would add capacity for international
services to address the growing demand brought about by the rapid
expansion of cellular phone, leased line, Internet and other
telecommunication services.
In November, Globe and Tata Communications
partnered to construct a trans-Asian cable system linking the
Philippines to Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore with onward
connectivity to the US. Globe will be the exclusive landing party in
the Philippines to this cable system, which is scheduled for
completion in the second half of this year.
The telco reported a profit of P13.3 billion
last year, or 13 percent higher than the previous year. The
company’s consolidated service revenues were up by 11 percent to
P63.2 billion, driven by an 11-percent and 7-percent growth,
respectively, of its wireless and wireline businesses.
-- Darwin G. Amojelar
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