Globe Telecom said mobile data is now the biggest contributor to its total mobile revenues (38%), outpacing voice (37%) as the company closed 2016 with a record net profit of P16 billion, up 6% from P15.1 billion last year.
Overall, the Ayala-led telco posted an all-time high consolidated service revenues of close to P120 billion, outpacing the previous record level of P113.7 billion in 2015 by 6%.
Mobile data service revenues reached P34.6 billion in 2016, 25% higher than the P27.7 billion reported a year ago. Mobile data traffic grew 44% from 252 petabytes (PB) to 361 PB in the year just ended, as smartphone penetration reached 61%.
In contrast to the solid growth of data-related products across all segments, Globe said voice and SMS revenues remained moribund with the continuous migration to Internet-based applications.
The Globe home broadband business likewise sustained its growth momentum at P14.5 billion in 2016, increasing revenues by 28% year-on-year, with total subscriber base now reaching 1.13 million.
Globe?s corporate data business also improved year-on-year at P9.9 billion as of end 2016 or 28% higher from the P7.7 billion posted in 2015, as demand for data connectivity continues to surge.
The strong demand for Internet and domestic leased lines, as well as cloud computing solutions, contributed to the revenue growth in the corporate data business.
Globe spent around P36.7 billion in capital expenditures as of end-December of 2016 to support the growing subscriber base and its demand for data. Of the total capital expenditures spent this year, about 65% was for the data service needs of its customers.
