“The capex push by the Philippines’ incumbent telecom operators — ahead of the launch ofthe third mobile network operator, Dito Telecommunity [Corp.] — will delay deleveraging…,” it said in a statement on Monday. Last Thursday, Pangilinan-led PLDT said it was earmarking a whopping P83 billion for this year, higher than 2019’s capital expenditures (capex), which reached P72.9 billion. Its main rival Globe Telecom Inc., on the other hand, kept its capex level at P63 billion. “The resultant increase will take telecoms capex to above 40 percent of total revenue, amongst the highest within Fitch’s Asia-Pacific telecoms portfolio. PLDT, meanwhile, saw its net income climb by 19 percent to P22.5 billion against the P18.9 billion a year earlier.

Source: Manila Times March 14, 2020 15:56 UTC