|
Globe Telecom, Inc. announced on Monday that it has borrowed money
from a foreign bank to fund the company’s capital expenditure next
year.
The Ayala-led telecom disclosed to the
Philippine Stock Exchange that it has signed a $66-million Term
Loan Facility with Norddeutsche Landesbank Giro-zentrale, Singapore
Branch. The loan is a three-year facility, with a floating interest
rate, the disclosure read.
“The proceeds of the facility will be used for
capital expenditures,” Globe said.
Globe has reduced its spending plan to below
$400 million this year because of slower demand in mobile phone
usage.
“We will take on a more prudent view for 2009
until markets stabilize,” Gerardo Ablaza, Globe president and
chief executive earlier said.
The bulk of the 2009 capex will fund the
company’s wireless broadband business and the remaining money will
go to mobile phone network coverage expansion.
For this year, the company also cut its capex to
a range of $400 to $420 million from the original $450 million.
The telecom company spent P13.6 billion in the
first nine months of last year, up 49 percent from a year earlier
due to increased expenditures related to broadband rollout,
continued deepening of its 2G (second generation) coverage and
investments in domestic and international transmission, including
the purchase of capacities in the TGN-Intra Asia submarine cable
system.
Globe’s total 2G cell sites increased by 3
percent from 6,129 to 6,308, bringing geographic and population
coverage to 96 percent and 99 percent, respectively.
In the first three quarters of 2008, Globe’s
consolidated net income fell 9 percent to P8.8 billion year-on-year
because of lower operating earnings but was partially offset by
lower financing costs during the period.
The company’s service revenues slipped 1
percent to P46.62 billion.
-- Darwin G Amojelar
|
