Globe Telecom Sustains Customer Growth Momentum, Now at 45.4 Million

“Business strategy of providing complete digital experience working to attract customers”

Globe Telecom sustained its customer growth momentum for the period January to September 2014, with total customer base at 45.4 million, an 18% jump from 38.4 million a year earlier, underpinned by strong acquisitions in both the mobile and broadband businesses. The company’s robust customer take-up steered the telecommunications provider to lead the industry in terms of revenue growth during the review period.

Globe Telecom’s solid success over the past several years in attracting customers reflects the mobile operator’s ability to lead the pack in revenue expansion. “Our growth has been driven by our business strategy of providing our customers with products and services most relevant to them. We will continue with our approach of creating a brand that appeals to our customers’ digital lifestyle and providing superior customer experience,” Globe President & CEO Ernest Cu said.

The company’s robust customer acquisition buoyed core net profit during the period to P11.6 billion, up 22% from a year earlier as revenues reached P72.7 billion, an 8% increase from a year earlier. Over the past two years, Globe customer acquisition growth has been running in double-digits, leading the company to post high single- digit growth in revenue versus low single-digit or even flattish growth of the industry. In 2013, Globe consolidated revenues rose 9% as customer acquisition grew 16% to 40.5 million. In the year prior, revenues expanded 6%, helped by an 11% jump in customer base.

Total gross acquisitions in the first nine months of the year stood at 27.6 million, 25% higher year-on-year, driven by record-level acquisitions registered in the first half of the year. Coming from the preceding quarter’s all-time high of 9.6 million customers, gross additions for the third quarter slowed to 8.9 million. As anticipated, churn rates for the third quarter were higher, owing to the churn of non-paying subscribers registered in the system primarily for the Free Facebook promotion in the first four months of the year. Despite the higher churn rates, net incremental subscribers improved to 4.4 million for the first three quarters of this year, a solid 29% higher than the 2013 level of 3.4 million net additions.

Globe Prepaid gross acquisitions in the January to September period grew to 11.6 million, a 23% surge when compared to gross acquisitions of 9.4 million a year earlier. TM, on the other hand, generated total gross acquisition of 15.5 million in the first nine months of the year, up 27% from a year earlier attributed to TM’s continued aggressive acquisition efforts.

At the end of September, total customer base of Globe Prepaid reached 18.9 million while that of TM reached 21.8 million, higher by 12% and 24%, respectively, from a year earlier, bringing Globe Telecom’s total prepaid customer base to 40.7 million, an 18% rise from 34.5 million a year earlier.

On the other hand, Globe Telecom’s broadband business is steadily increasing its market share, providing support for robust revenues generated in the first nine months of the year. Broadband customer base at the end of September surged 36% to over 2.5 million versus over 1.8 million a year earlier, courtesy of the robust uptake in both wired solutions and wireless services.

Globe Telecom’s Tattoo Mobile Broadband maintained its brand leadership in the segment as it registered a solid 42% growth in customer base, while Tattoo Home reported an 11% increase in the number of customers after the first nine months of the year. The fixed line data segment, meanwhile, drew support from the growth in domestic and internet services, sustained circuit base expansion, strong demand for data connectivity and the relevance of the company’s innovative products and services that cater to the needs of its corporate clients such as sales and marketing, intercompany communications, database management and data storage. Also, the expansion of the local IT Enabled Services industry, which includes call centers and business outsourcing companies, also helped drive the growth of the corporate data business.