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BAYAN Telecommunications Inc. said revenue jumped by a fifth in the
first quarter this year, boosted by its wireless landline business.
Tunde Fafunwa, Bayan chief executive consultant,
said revenue in first quarter reached P1.26 billion, 20 percent more
than its growth in the same period last year.
In 2007, the company’s total revenue for the
year rose 15 percent to P5.5 billion from P4.8 billion in the
previous year.
Bayan said revenue growth in 2007 was driven by
a 10-percent gain in voice services to P3.37 billion from P3.1
billion the previous year, with wireless landline contributing more
than 20 percent of the revenues.
The Lopez-led telecom company said net income
last year went up 319 percent to P2.2 billion from P526 million in
2006.
Fafunwa said the company plans to roll out
additional base stations that would further expand coverage of its
wireless landline service in Metro Manila within the first half of
2008 and launch the service in other provincial cities within the
year.
“With more than 150,000 subscribers nationwide
and growing, we are expanding our coverage and launching more
value-added services,” Fafunwa said.
At present, Bayan’s wireless landline
service covers Metro Manila, Naga, Legaspi, Tacloban, Samar, Davao ,
Iloilo , Cagayan de Oro, and General Santos cities.
Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., one of the
world’s leading telecommunications and networking equipment
suppliers, has been tapped as strategic partner for the project.
Fafunwa also said its core business of
residential landlines, DSL (digital subscribers line) and data
services to the corporate sector continues to deliver stable revenue
streams that can be funneled into further building the network
infrastructure, expanding service coverage, and elevating customer
service quality standards.
Bayan’s data and Internet business gained 27
percent at P2.06 billion compared with P1.62 billion in the previous
year.
Internet revenues breached the P1-billion
revenue mark, gaining 60 percent more than the previous year’s
P627 million.
-- Darwin G. Amojelar
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