Release Date: February 27, 2025

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Positive Points

• PLDT Inc (NYSE:PHI) reported a 2% year-on-year growth in service revenue, driven by fiber, mobile data, and enterprise ICT.
• The company's EBITDA margin remains strong at 52%, highlighting sustained profitability.
• PLDT Inc (NYSE:PHI) achieved a 4% increase in EBITDA to 108.5 billion, demonstrating effective cost management.
• Maya Bank, a subsidiary of PLDT Inc (NYSE:PHI), achieved profitability in December 2024, marking a significant milestone.
• PLDT Inc (NYSE:PHI) continues to lead in the data center space with Vitro Santa Rosa, the country's first AI-ready data center, securing anchor tenants.

Negative Points

• Legacy revenue declines continue to be a drag on overall revenue growth, although efforts are being made to migrate customers to newer services.
• The company experienced subscriber losses in the prepaid mobile segment during the fourth quarter, attributed to a year-end cleanup.
• PLDT Inc (NYSE:PHI) faces significant price competition in the market, impacting its ability to maintain ARPU levels.
• The rollout of network infrastructure faced challenges in 2023, affecting the pace of fiber broadband growth.
• There is uncertainty regarding the valuation and potential buyout of KKR's stake in Maya, which could impact financial planning.

Q & A Highlights

• Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with PHI.

Q: What is PLDT's stance on the Conectadon Pinoy Act, and how might it impact competition, especially from foreign players? A: PLDT supports the government's effort to provide open access, with the condition that the bill treats all stakeholders equally and without discrimination. The company is working with the government to ensure reasonable restrictions and protections for asset owners. PLDT seeks equal treatment with data transmission providers, as 78% of its business is already data transmission.

Q: How is PLDT Home maintaining an industry-leading churn rate and stable ARPU, and what are the plans for pre-paid fiber? A: PLDT Home focuses on offering competitive packages across all market segments and enhancing service quality. The company has increased speeds on certain plans and bundled additional services to sustain ARPU. While pre-paid fiber is part of the offering, the focus remains on postpaid to avoid diluting profitability.

Q: How did PLDT achieve a higher ARPU in Q4 while competitors saw declines, and what is the outlook for consumer uptake as price competition eases? A: PLDT's higher ARPU was driven by enhanced sales and marketing infrastructure, 5G network rollout, and availability of 5G phones. The company focuses on monetizing data and engaging customers through innovative offers, which contributed to the positive results.

Q: What are the reasons for the decline in prepaid mobile subscribers in Q4, and how does PLDT plan to address this? A: The decline in prepaid subscribers was due to a year-end cleanup of inactive accounts. PLDT continues to focus on enhancing customer engagement and monetization strategies to drive growth in the mobile segment.

Q: Can you elaborate on the GPU as a service offering and its demand among enterprises? A: The GPU as a service offering is in its early stages, with active workloads and use cases at Vitro Santa Rosa. PLDT is in discussions with enterprises to explore use cases and expects demand to grow. The company aims to be competitive in pricing and is open to hosting other GPU service providers.

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.