By Joseph Waring
Globe Telecom unveiled plans to cut its capex budget in 2023 by 30 per cent, with network spending expected to peak at about US$1.9 billion this year following a ramp over the past two to take advantage of streamlined processes for deploying infrastructure.
The company’s board approve a reduction to US$1.3 billion.
Globe Telecom president and CEO Ernest Cu stated after investing heavily, “we now have a significant backbone for our network, which allows us to shift our focus towards capital efficiency and optimisation”.
He said it targets bringing capex down to US$1 billion by 2024.
By end-September, the operator said it upgraded 10,600 sites to LTE, deployed 1,887 5G sites nationwide and installed 1.4 million FTTH lines.
Globe Telecom raised capex 54 per cent to PHP92.8 billion (US$1.7 billion) in 2021.
Earlier this year, it earmarked PHP89 billion. The operator raised funds for the capex increase through a stocks rights offer and selling-off tower assets.
The Philippine government introduced rules to simplify complex infrastructure building processes in 2020.
