SMC’s Ang says there’s room for 3rd telco player
October 2, 2015 at 14:30
SMC’s Ang says there’s room for 3rd telco player
Ramon S. Ang, president and COO of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC), said there is room for a third telecommunications firm and vowed the one the company should soon offer will be better than the two big players now in operation.
Ang said that its partner, Australia’s Telstra, should not have a hard time investing in the joint venture the two firms are creating.
“Whatever contribution that they [Telstra] will put in is nothing to them because they are a very big company,” Ang said.
He did not discuss details like how much Telstra will invest, but said that its network will focus on mobile broadband that will run on both wired and wireless network.
Telstra previously confirmed it is in talks with San Miguel.
“The moment that our telco will be operational, it will give a better service to everyone,” he said.
“We are building a network that will provide our countrymen a good network that will at least work. It will be a better network [than the two current networks].”
Ang added there is room for one more player in the manner of other countries where there are at least three carriers.
At the moment, the main telecommunications brands are owned by either Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and by the Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. All others have been bought out by these two players.
Ang said the telecommunications business is one of the company’s major projects in the medium term and comes on top of its capital-intensive power-generation projects. The enterprise was seen to at least double the conglomerate’s revenues to $40 billion to $50 billion in five years.
San Miguel, in partnership with the Qtel Group, currently backs the company that operates the wi-Tribe brand, which focuses on providing 4G technology.
The business, however, hardly made a difference in PLDT through its Smart Communications Inc. and for Globe Telecom.
“We hope to build more infrastructure projects for our country and hope to provide a good telecom or a working telecom network,” Ang said.
San Miguel said its income in the first half fell 8 percent to P16.8 billion, from P18.4 billion as a result of huge foreign-exchange (forex) losses.
Excluding the effects of forex adjustments amounting to P18 billion, this was 15 percent higher than last year’s P15.7 billion.
The company incurred P1.1 billion in forex losses as of June 30.
Revenues, meanwhile, dropped by 16 percent to P338.8 billion from last year’s P404.9 billion, as a result of unfavorable crude prices at the start of the year, along with lower volumes for SMC Global Power resulting from the maintenance shutdown of its Malampaya gas facilities.
The company said it had P40.7 billion in consolidated operating income in the first half, a 23-percent increase over the same period last year, on the back of a 5-percent combined revenue growth in its core businesses, the significant profit recovery of Petron Corp. in the second quarter as a result of more stable crude-oil prices, and higher contribution from its infrastructure business.
Consolidated earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization aggregated P51.8 billion, 14 percent higher than 2014.
Source: www.businessmirror.com.ph
