Globe mobile subscriber base breaches 40M mark

Business segments register double-digit growth in subscriber base year-on-year

         

Globe Telecom remains on-track with its growth momentum as its mobile subscriber base hit the 40 million mark as of first quarter of the year.

As of end-March 2014, Globe registered a total of 40.7 million subscribers, up 16% from 35.1 million subscribers versus same period last year.

The double-digit growth year-on-year trickled down to the company’s postpaid, prepaid and TM business segments. Maintaining undisputed leadership in the market, the telco’s postpaid segment posted a 12% hike in its customer base of 2.1 million in the first quarter of 2014 on the back of a steady traction for its fully-customizable postpaid plans and innovative postpaid device offers.

The company’s overall prepaid business, composed of the Globe prepaid and TM segments, recorded a 16% growth year-on-year, resulting to a total of 38.7 million customers. Globe prepaid customer base grew by 10% to 18.7 million, while TM subscribers reached the 20 million mark with an increase of 22% versus previous year’s levels.

“We open the year on a high note with all our mobile brands posting double-digit growth in their customer bases versus previous year’s levels. This testifies that our commitment to provide innovative offers to our subscribers remains sound and solid as we see more postpaid, prepaid, and TM subscribers using the Globe network,” said Peter Bithos, Chief Operating Advisor at Globe. “Sustaining momentum into the succeeding quarters, our customers, both existing and new, can expect more ground-breaking innovations, partnerships, and offers as we help create a wonderful mobile experience.”

                In the first quarter of the year, Globe offered a more robust product portfolio for its mobile subscribers which included new postpaid devices Nokia Lumia 1320, CloudFone Excite 451TV, and Huawei Ascend G526 available in the mySUPERPLAN device portfolio, GoUNLI25 for prepaid subscribers which offers unlimited calls and texts to Globe/TM, unlimited Facebook plus a choice of one free app for only P25 valid for 1 day, and affordable TM promos UnliCall15 for unlimited calls to Globe/TM for P15 valid for 1 day and UnliAllNet10 for unlimited texts to all networks for P10 valid for 1 day.

Complementing growth of the different businesses’ customer bases, mobile revenues improved by 8% to P18.5 billion with the sustained growth of the postpaid business and solid performance of the prepaid brands during the first quarter of 2014.

First quarter’s gross subscriber acquisitions once again registered a record-high of 9.1 million subscribers, 3% higher than the strong fourth quarter 2013 additions. This was mainly contributed by the record acquisitions of TM as well as increased postpaid subscriptions. The company’s Free Facebook offer drove subscriber uptake, particularly on the prepaid business. Full year net incremental subscribers leapt to 2.3 million, 12% higher than previous year’s level of 2.02 net additions.