THE enterprise arm of PLDT is looking for a potential site for its 12th data center in the country.
The Pangilinan-led company on Thursday, Aug. 3, 2023 said they have already shortlisted some sites as potential locations that will house a data center with a power capacity of no less than 100MW.
This data center expansion will cement the group’s footing in data center market leadership in the country. This also answers the growing demand from enterprise customers and hyperscalers.
ePLDT’s 11th data center in Sta. Rosa is on track to go live by the second quarter of 2024.
ePLDT’s expansion was strengthened by its leadership in the local data center industry with increased capacity from Vitro Makati 2 and Santa Rosa.
Data and cloud
Looking forward, ePLDT is setting its sights on expanding its managed service offerings integrated with cybersecurity solutions and cloud business in Southeast Asia.
This business unit of PLDT logged increased revenues by two percent or P0.6 billion, to reach P23.2 billion for the first half of 2023, primarily driven by the 13 percent growth in its ICT business, consisting of data center and cloud business.
The fixed business segment of PLDT Enterprise grew versus the same period last year, buoyed by sustained performance of Beyond Fiber, Managed Broadband Network Solutions and PLDT SD-WAN.
ICT revenue growth in the first half of the year was spurred by the segment’s Cloud Business, mostly due to cloud consumption and licenses.
Revenue up 1%
Amid the challenging macroeconomic backdrop, PLDT Inc. announced that service revenues (net of interconnect costs) grew by one percent or P0.9 billion to P94.5 billion in the first half of 2023, led by growth in home and enterprise and improving trends in the individual mobile business.
In the second quarter alone, consolidated service revenues grew one percent or P.3 billion to P47.4 billion compared with the previous quarter.
Data and broadband, which grew by four percent or P3.1 billion to P77.5 billion, contributed 82 percent of consolidated service revenues.
The group’s consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) grew by three percent or P1.6 billion year-on-year to P52.1 billion in the first six months, due to higher revenues and lower operating expenditures. Ebitda margin was at 53 percent for the period. Consolidated Ebitda is trending to exceed anew the P100 billion mark for 2023.
Telco core income, excluding the impact of asset sales and Voyager Innovations, reached P17.6 billion, up three percent or P0.5 billion from the same period last year, mainly due to higher Ebitda and lower depreciation, partly negated by the increase in financing costs.
Income up 10%
Reported income was at P18.5 billion in the first half of 2023, up 10 percent year-on-year. Its share in losses from Voyager was lower at P1.2 billion compared with P1.6 billion in the previous year.
“Our vision at PLDT and Smart is anchored on customer-centricity –- one that prioritizes customer experience and always aims for constant improvement. We strive to operate efficiently as we commit to power Filipinos’ increasingly digital lifestyles,” said Alfredo Panlilio, PLDT and Smart president and chief executive officer.
“The PLDT Group aims to enable digital adoption for Filipinos, which is key to inclusive nation-building. We have also ramped up our support for the government-mandated Private Sector Advisory Council’s Digital Infrastructure pillar and the GoDigital Pilipinas Movement through broader connectivity and technologies, which, in turn create opportunities across priority sectors of the economy, improve the ease of doing business, and enhance government service delivery. PLDT remains committed to evolving with our customers and delivering innovation to become a completely connected and future-ready Philippines,” Panlilio added. (KOC)