The board of directors of Globe Telecom has approved new capital expenditure (capex) of $300 million for network expansion, consisting of $160 million for mobile; $50 million for corporate data; and $90 million for broadband.
Previous to this new approval, the company?s 2016 capex availment and capex cashflow were the same at $750 million.
The additional network spending will bring 2016 capex availment to $1 billion, while the capex cashflow will range between $750 to $810 million depending on the final network build completion in the fourth quarter of this year.
The company is also kick-starting an additional mobile capex program for more deployment of LTE services using the 700 megahertz (MHz) and 2600 MHz frequencies, increased 3G capacities, and further expansion of mobile coverage.
Globe plans to roll-out additional 700 LTE 700 sites, close to 2,700 LTE 2600 sites, and additional core and transport upgrades.
In parallel, Globe has started the deployment of fiber broadband technology that will provide ultra-fast internet access to two million homes in 20,000 barangays by 2020.
Lastly, Globe is investing for capacity augmentation of its corporate data network to address the bandwidth requirements of enterprise clients.
?We are leveraging our additional 700MHz and 2600Mhz spectrum by investing heavily on LTE to improve both mobile data and fixed wireless broadband. The company is now in the best position more than ever to deliver the best video platforms and expand our data services, in line with the future of our business,? said Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu.
From a product perspective, data has remained Globe?s catalyst for growth across all the product segments. For the first half of 2016, the telco?s data-related revenues accounted for 50% of consolidated service revenues, up from 37% in the first half of last year.
Total data revenues, which consist of mobile data, home broadband and corporate data services, reached P29.6 billion in the first six months of the year, up 48% from the P20 billion reported last year.
