PLDT profit growth slows in Q1

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May 15, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines —  Telco giant PLDT Inc. registered a two percent decline in profit in the first quarter due to price hikes, but is undertaking cost controls and selling more than 200 assets to raise cash.

Based on its financial report, PLDT’s net income went down to P8.87 billion in the first quarter, from P9.03 billion a year ago, as expenses went up at a faster pace than revenue.

Even its core income, which excludes external factors, fell by two percent to P8.58 billion, as the telco spent for the replacement of a 21-year-old system and consumers held back on spending.

PLDT recorded a two percent rise in revenue to P56.51 billion, as enterprise grew by four percent to offset income declines from broadband and wireless. However, PLDT posted a five percent increase in expenses to P42.75 billion.

Still, chief financial officer Danny Yu is confident the telco can return to expansion mode. For one, the country’s biggest telco raised as much as P400 million from the sale of properties in Baguio and Cebu.

Yu said over 200 idle assets would be consolidated for the remainder of the year, and PLDT will try to dispose of them once the property market becomes better.

On top of this, Yu said the telco is equipping its infrastructure assets with solar sites, so they can generate their own energy and scale down dependence on fuel.

PLDT also expects to draw a higher contribution from digital bank Maya, as it handed over P500 million in equity to the telco in the first quarter.

Maya’s deposit balance has gone up to P76 billion as of March, and it issued over P33 billion in loans. Yu said Maya is working on sustaining its position as the country’s top merchant acquirer.

To expand its fiber backbone, PLDT is acquiring the other 65.1 percent in Radius Telecoms Inc. for P2.94 billion. Prior to this, PLDT owned only 34.9 percent of Radius, with 65.1 percent held by Manila Electric Co. subsidiary Paragon Vertical Corp.

Radius is a strategic asset for PLDT, as it owns fiber lines that connect to commercial buildings, residential units and subdivisions and villages.

In the boardroom, PLDT is sending Yu to retirement after over two years of handling the telco’s finances, capped off by fiscal measures that brought it back to positive cash flow.