Globe secures P5-billion loan with Metrobank for capex

Globe Telecom Inc. has signed a 10-year, P5-billion and seven-year term loan with Metrobank, which it intends to use for capital expenditures (capex). 

“This new loan facility from Metrobank will help us address the demands of our customers in their continuing shift to a digital lifestyle. Globe is committed to invest in additional network capacities to handle the robust growth in data traffic from our customers,“ Globe Chief Financial Officer Alberto de Larrazabal said.

Globe invested about P11.4 billion in capital expenditures in the first half of 2015. The bulk of the investment was allocated for data-related projects, including investments for the company’s broadband network, capacities for wireless data, LTE, and domestic and international transmission facilities.

Globe closed the first half of 2015 with record-level consolidated service revenues of P53.8 billion, 13 percent higher than the P47.7 billion reported a year ago, on the strength of robust revenue gains on mobile-data and broadband, as more customers adopt a digital lifestyle.

Globe also reported its highest-ever consolidated service revenues of P27.6 billion for the second quarter of the year, outpacing both the record-level revenues in the seasonally strong fourth quarter of 2014 of P26.3 billion and last quarter’s P26.2 billion by five percent.

Aside from the growing number of smartphone users in the Globe network, sustained emergence of various products and services that include OTT applications, music, video streaming, gaming and social media also provided support for the company’s mobile-data business.

Various partnerships with global digital giants, such as Facebook, Viber, Spotify, NBA and HOOQ, enabled the company to build a portfolio of products and services that provide relevant content to fit its customers’ digital lifestyle.

This allowed the company to continue capitalizing on these partnerships to further seed data adoption among its customers.

Globe strengthened its leadership in mobile-data business after it registered in the January-June period P9.5 billion in mobile browsing and other data revenues, a 53-percent growth from previous year’s level of P6.2 billion in the first six months of the year.

This achievement brought the contribution of mobile data revenues to 23 percent of total mobile revenues as of 1st half of 2015, coming from 16 percent the previous year.

With mobile data business growing at a rapid pace, data users from overall Globe mobile customer base grew to 37 percent during the same period, a substantial increase from the previous year’s 17 percent.

Wireless data traffic in the Globe network also increased by 82 percent year-on-year with the growing number of smartphone users and applications that leverage the Internet.