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PLDT may offer internet TV service
By Myla Iglesias (Malaya)

MANILA, Philippines, March 13, 2008 – The Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., (PLDT) plans to offer TV service through broadband and wireless, meaning viewers can use their PCs or their mobile phones watching their favorite TV shows.

Its unit, Smart Communications already tested mobile TV service but was stopped because guidelines on the new service are not in place yet.

Napoleon Nazareno, PLDT president, said that the company is considering to offer Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and Internet protocol television (IPTV) technology to subscribers..

We're watching developments in the technology, Nazareno said.

WiMAX is an application connecting to a Wi-Fi- hotspot, a wireless alternative to cable and DSL.

Nazareno said that PLDT will put in place the IPTV technology once it has completed its migration from traditional phone to next generation network (NGN).

PLDT started the migration process since 2006.

NGN is the latest technology for voice and multimedia communications based on open architecture design made possible through Internet protocol (IP) technology.

Last year, PLDT reported a net income of P36 billion last year from P35.1 billion in 2006. Its core profit, which excludes foreign exchange gains or losses and other non-recurring income, reached P35.2 billion, 11 percent higher than the P31.6 billion in 2006.

As of end 2007 , PLDT DSL, SmartBro and WeRoam subscribers more than doubled to 579,000 adding about 315,000 subscribers for the year.

PLDT may invest up to $1.5B
By Lenie Lectura - Reporter (Business Mirror)

MANILA, Philippines, March 7, 2008 – AWASH in cash, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) may invest more than $1.5 billion in a bid to transform the country’s biggest company by market value from an integrated telecommunications firm to a customer-centric, multimedia conglomerate.

Chairman Manuel Pangilinan said the PLDT Group is looking at new telecommunications-related businesses, and might buy a television (TV) company.

“We would like to see an investment… [in] a content provider, like a television station,” said Pangilinan.

PLDT is looking at a “number of opportunities,” he said, but did not specify if the phone giant is engaged in talks with a broadcasting firm.

In the past, Pangilinan had been vocal about International Broadcasting Corp., also known as IBC-13, and GMA Network Inc. No deal was ever completed.

These are “sensitive investments” and that most of these opportunities are “local and telco-related investments,” Pangilinan said. “If there’s an acquisition that will be more than a billion US dollar we can afford to. We have the ability to raise funds. We can do that if there is a need to for a significant investment.”

Pangilinan is hopeful that the investment could be made within the year. “I think we will surprise you,” he added.

PLDT’s balance sheet is underleveraged, with cash flows way in excess of net debt. The PLDT Group reported that its consolidated free-cash flow remained strong at P46.5 billion last year despite capital expenditures of P25 billion—or 20-percent higher than 2006 levels.

About P18.3 billion of the cash was used to pay for debt and another P28.2 billion in cash dividends, excluding the dividends declared by the Group the other day.

“We have to allocate a portion of the cash to investments,” Pangilinan stressed.

At 80 years, PLDT’s goal is to transform itself to sustain growth and extend its leadership to 2008 and beyond.

The transformation involves five-key elements: innovate for growth; raise revenues organically and by investing in new businesses that optimize its existing businesses; build a robust infrastructure; engage competent and skilled people; and provide world-class quality of service.

“A key to this is the customer experience metric that involves [a] churning process, …provisioning, investor relations and customer satisfaction service. The board has specifically asked management for a report in the next board meeting as to how this customer experience is being improved from time to time by the group,” he said.

The group’s organic growth will come from broadband applications, call centers and business process outsourcing; PLDT Landline Plus; GSM communication capability for the maritime sector, foreign and domestic remittances; mobile TV; and MVNO or mobile virtual- network operation.

PLDT to acquire more telcos
By Darwin G. Amojelar - Reporter (Manila Times)

MANILA, Philippines, March 7, 2008 – PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) plans to acquire more telecom-related businesses this year, according to the chairman of the country’s largest telecom company.

Manuel V. Pangilinan, PLDT chairman, told reporters the company has excess cash of about P5 billion after paying out dividends.

“I’m not saying that we have a war chest of P5 billion. What I’m saying is that we have the capability to raise money if there’s a need to raise a significant investment,” he said.

“If there’s an acquisition that will be more than a billion US, we can afford to fund it. We have the capability of raising money,” he added.

Last month, PLDT’s Smart Broadband Inc. (SBI) completed the acquisition of all assets of Cruz Telephone Co. (Cruztelco), a telco operating in Northeast Mindanao at a cost of P371.3 million. The transaction includes the transfer of Cruztelco’s corresponding local exchange carrier permits to SBI.

Pangilinan said that starting this year more than 50 percent of PLDT’s revenue will be driven by its broadband Internet business.

“I think by 2009, we should have over a million broadband subscribers and over P10-billion revenue for broadband alone,” he said.

The PLDT group last year reported P7.6 billion in revenues from its broadband and Internet businesses.

PLDT said its broadband subscriber base more than doubled last year to 579,000.

SmartBro, the wireless broadband service operated by subsidiary Smart Communications Inc. has 302,000 subscribers with 2,780 wireless broadband-enabled base stations, covering more than 600 cities and municipalities.

PLDT reported a net income of P36 billion last year from P35.1 billion in 2006.

Its core profit, which excludes foreign exchange gains or losses and other non-recurring income, reached P35.2 billion, 11 percent higher than the P31.6 billion in 2006.

Partly owned by Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd. and Japan’s NTT group, PLDT said consolidated service revenues reached P135.5 billion, up by 8 percent year-on-year. This was despite a 10-percent appreciation of the peso, which negatively impacted 38 percent of the company’s dollar-linked revenues.