Globe Telecom Inc. on Wednesday announced a 10 percent drop in net income in the first nine months of the year due to lower revenues brought about by prolonged community quarantine in the country. 

The Ayala-led telco said net income amounted to P15.88 billion in the January to September period this year from P17.68 billion in the same period last year. 

Core net income also fell by 13 percent to P15.61 billion in the first nine months from last year’s P17.86 billion. 

“We are pleased with the performance Globe delivered this period, especially considering the extraordinary circumstances our country is facing,” Ernest L. Cu, president and chief executive of Globe said. 

“We believe, on the back of our continued  network investments, that we are ready to seize these opportunities to help our customers and the nation succeed in this new environment,” he added. 

Globe’s consolidated revenues amounted to P109.1 billion in the first nine months, slightly down by  1 percent from the record P110.6 billon achieved a year ago. 

From a product view, mobile data revenues generated P53.4 billion in the first nine months of 2020 from P52.1 billion of same the period last year, as consumers turned to online platforms to shop, telework, and connect with families and friends. 

Meanwhile, mobile voice and mobile SMS revenues  ended at P15.3 billion and P8.6 billion, lower year-on-year by 16 percent and 29 percent, respectively, as the COVID- 19 pandemic further accelerated the shift to data-based services. 

Home broadband posted 22 percent year-on-year revenue growth to reach P19.5 billion this period, from P16.1 

billion last year. 

Total home broadband subscriber base now stands at over 3.4 million, up 82 percent from the first nine months of 2019, driven mainly by the sustained increase of fixed wireless broadband users, now up by 119 percent from last year.

Corporate Data revenues, on the other hand, tapered by 3% year-on-year with total revenues of P9.3 

billion as of end-September 2020, largely coming from lower domestic and international services. 

Globe also said it invested a total of P33.4 billion in capital expenditures for the first nine months of the year, out of the P50.3 billion capex this year. 

“We remain committed to deliver our planned site builds for 2020, despite the varying degrees of community quarantines and our limited workforce out in the field. With the easing of requirements, we were able to secure over 700 permits last August and September, which consists of both building and Certificates of Final Electrical Inspection (CFEI) permits,” Cu said. 

“These permits complement our target network expansion and will help us continue the momentum of our aggressive cell site rollout,” he added.