Globe brushes off SIM listing impact

Ayala-backed Globe Telecom Inc. hurdled the mandated subscriber identity module, or SIM, registration unscathed as its mobile business revenues remained robust.

The company's mobile business slightly grew in the first half with P54.8 billion in revenues, a one percent increase from the P54 billion a year ago.

"We see that SIM registration has no material impact on revenues. We've observed our top-ups remain unaffected and acquisitions in the last five weeks are still at least 50 percent higher than pre-deadline run rates," Darius Delgado, head of Globe Consumer Mobile Business, said.

He added: "It's evident that we have already covered 99 percent of our revenue base."

30M churned

Delgado explained that the 30 million unregistered SIMs Globe deactivated after the SIM registration deadline are predominantly inactive. They were the result of push-selling activities in the past, which were discontinued in the latter part of 2022.

Globe's 53.7 million registered SIMs account for over 99 percent of its revenue-generating subscriber base, consistent with company guidance that the SIM registration exercise will not have any impact on its top-line results for the year.

The SIM Registration Act mandated all mobile phone and prepaid broadband users to register their existing SIMs by 25 July, or face SIM deactivation. It was implemented to curb the spread of scams and spam messages.

Meanwhile, Issa Guevarra-Cabreira, chief commercial officer of Globe, reiterated the company's focus on customer quality over quantity.

"As we've always emphasized, we do not focus on subscriber count but rather on the quality of customers. And we have seen that our ARPUs are improving quarter on quarter as mobility increases," she said.

"This is despite the headwinds that we're anticipating in the back half, perhaps driven also by the back-to-school and the economic activity that has returned to the country," she added.