Filipinos’ Accelerated Digital Habits Sustain Globe Broadband Business

The accelerated digital habits of Filipinos during the pandemic drove the sustained exceptional performance of Globe’s broadband business. Home broadband revenues posted a record ₱22.4 billion as of end-September, a 15% increase from the same period a year ago. The hike is even more significant if compared to the same period before the COVID-19 outbreak, reaching 39%.

Likewise, Globe At Home’s subscriber base rose to 3.7 million from 3.5 million in the first nine months, with the wired broadband customer base growing by 32%. Additionally, Home Prepaid WiFi data traffic jumped 79% to 628 petabytes from 352 petabytes in the same period of 2020.

To keep up with the constantly increasing demand for connectivity at home, Globe worked double-time to put up Fiber To The Home (FTTH) lines. It has already installed over one million FTTH lines, surpassing its full-year target. Continuing on this pace, it expects to roll out 1.4 million FTTH lines by year-end.

Globe’s efforts have already yielded positive results. There was a whopping 240% rise in FTTH subscribers for the same period, while fiber revenues went up by 169%.

“This milestone in our broadband business is a testament to our #1stWorldNetwork commitment. Despite the challenges brought about by the ongoing pandemic, our teams delivered on the needed fiber builds, which brought connectivity to more Filipino homes nationwide,” said Ernest Cu, Globe President, and CEO.

FTTH is considered a more effective way to deliver data over long distances. It offers faster connection speeds, higher bandwidth capacity, and lower latency. It is more durable than bulky copper lines and is resistant to electromagnetic and radio signal interference.

Globe has already spent a record level of ₱65.4 billion in capital expenditure since January of 2021, more than 2020’s full-year investment of ₱60.3 billion. About 84% of the Capex spent went to data network builds to help boost mobile and internet experiences for many Filipinos.