PLDT Q3 2025 Earnings Report

PLDT EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.67
• Consensus EPS: $0.73
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.06
• One Year Ago EPS: N/A

PLDT Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $922.04 million
• Expected Revenue: $953.29 million
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$31.24 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: N/A

PLDT Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q3 2025
• Date: 11/12/2025
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, November 11, 2025
• Conference Call Time: 2:30AM ET

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT (NYSE:PHI)) is the largest integrated telecommunications provider in the Philippines, offering a comprehensive suite of fixed‐line, wireless, broadband Internet, and digital solutions to residential, enterprise, and government customers. Founded in 1928, PLDT has played a pivotal role in the development of the country’s communications infrastructure, evolving from a traditional operator of long‐distance telephone lines into a diversified digital services provider.

PLDT operates two main business segments: its fixed‐line and broadband operations under the PLDT brand and its wireless services through subsidiary Smart Communications. The company’s network assets include an extensive fiber‐optic backbone, mobile network with LTE and 5G coverage, as well as data centers and cloud platforms that support enterprise ICT solutions. PLDT also offers cybersecurity services, digital payment platforms, and managed services, positioning itself as a one-stop provider for connectivity and digital transformation.

Headquartered in Makati City, PLDT provides comprehensive communications services across the archipelago. Its senior leadership team is led by Executive Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan and President and CEO Alfredo S. Panlilio, whose strategic initiatives focus on network modernization, product innovation, and expanding digital ecosystems. Through partnerships with global technology and content providers, PLDT continues to strengthen its service offerings and support the country’s shift towards a digital economy.

PLDT Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Revenue mix is improving — consolidated service revenues rose ~1% Y/Y to ₱145.9B and, excluding legacy services, revenues grew ~3% with fiber up 7%, mobile data/FWA rising and ICT accelerating.
• Positive Sentiment: Profitability and cost discipline held up — EBITDA increased ~3% to ₱82.8B with a stable 52% margin while cash OpEx, subsidies and provisions fell ~2% driven by lower compensation, promotions and subsidies.
• Positive Sentiment: Maya fintech is a material growth engine — Maya is profitable for the third consecutive quarter, materially improved deposits and lending (deposits +59%), and contributed positively to consolidated core income as its ecosystem scales.
• Positive Sentiment: Balance-sheet actions and lower CapEx support cash flow — CapEx guidance was cut to ₱60B (from ₱68–73B), YTD CapEx fell to ₱43B, the company hit positive free cash flow as of September, and management targets reducing net-debt/EBITDA from 2.61x toward ~2.0x via monetization (data‑center stake talks/REIT) and lower spending.
• Negative Sentiment: Reported earnings pressured by non‑cash charges and financing costs — telco core income fell ~5% due to higher depreciation and interest expense (average cost of debt rose to ~5.5%), including a ₱2.6B accelerated depreciation charge that lowered reported income.

Presentation

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

All right. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us today. I'm Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations here at PLDT and it's my pleasure to welcome you all to our nine-month financial and operating results briefing. Joining us today to share insights into PLDT's performance and strategic direction are PLDT's Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Danny Yu, PLDT's Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Butch Jimenez, PLDT Corporate Secretary Marilyn Victorino-Aquino. She'll be the Chief Legal Counsel Atty. Joan De Venecia-Fabul, Head of Consumer Business, Mr. John Palanca, Head of Enterprise Business, Mr. Mitch Locsin, ePLDT President and CEO, Victor S. Genuino as well as our OICs for Smart, Mr. Lloyd Manaloto and Ms. Marge Gargantiel. All right, so before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone we will have a Q&A session after the presentation. So you may of course submit your questions via the Ms.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Teams Q&A panel which you can see in the webinar. Thank you. Also to those who have sent your questions in advance, for those who are not able to use the Q&A due to compliance reasons, you may definitely raise your hand and we will unmute your mic at that time. All right, to start, I'd like to invite our Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Danny Yu to walk us through PLDT's financial performance.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us today. Allow me to present PLDT's financial and operating highlights. For the first nine months of the year.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Our service revenues net of interconnection costs reached PHP 145.9 billion, up 1% year-on-year, driven by steady demand across fiber data and ICT cash. OpEx subsidies and provisions were down 2%, showing our focus on spending control, even as we support growth areas. EBITDA rose 3% to PHP 82.8 billion, with margins steady at 52% amidst higher revenues and lower OpEx. Therefore, core income came in at PHP 25.3 billion, down 5% mainly due to higher depreciation in financing costs from network and IT investments.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

On the other hand, core income was stable at PHP 25.8 billion, supported by Maya's sustained profitability. Our share in Maya's core net income reached PHP 603 million for the period, a PHP 1.5 billion turnaround from last year's loss. Maya remained profitable for the third consecutive quarter, ensuring consistency as it solidifies its position as the country's leading tech fintech ecosystem. In summary, our nine-month results show a stable top line, resilient EBITDA, and improving contribution from digital businesses.[audio distortion] Consolidated Service revenues reach PHP 145.9 billion, up 1% year-on-year. If we exclude legacy services, total revenues rose 3% showing the continued expansion of our growth areas.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Within these growth segments, fiber revenues grew 7% reflecting solid demand for reliable connectivity. Mobile data and fixed wireless revenues were up 1%, with usage and 5G adoption continuing to rise. Please note that beginning this quarter we will now include fixed wireless access FWA within our growth segments for our wireless business. The base numbers have been adjusted accordingly to provide like for like comparison and reflect organic growth. Fixed wireless growth is driven by the expanding 5G base and stronger network coverage for enterprise. Corporate data and ICT revenues grew 2% returning to growth in the third quarter as government and public sector projects started to ramp up after election related delays. In the first half, ICT on its own grew 27%. Overall, the shift towards these growth areas, namely fiber data, fixed wireless and ICT, continues to offset the decline in legacy revenues.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Focusing on the third quarter, I'd like to point out that all major business units delivered positive growth even with legacy drags showing recovery especially for our mobile and enterprise groups. Consolidated service revenues rose 2% year-on-year to PHP 48.8 billion. Excluding legacy services, total revenues rose 4%. Wireless consumer revenues were up 1% with mobile data and fixed wireless delivering 3% growth year-on-year. Home revenues climbed 3% while fiber revenues were up 6%. Enterprise, as mentioned earlier, is now back on its growth path, posting a 2% increase year-on-year with corporate data and ICT up 5% while ICT services on its own grew 51% year-on-year as government projects begin pushing through. Overall third quarter marked a broad-based recovery with improvements in both mobile and enterprise reflecting steady execution and disciplined growth across the group. Now let's take a closer look at each of the business units.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Home revenues grew 4% year-on-year to PHP 45.7 billion, driven mainly by continued fiber demand. Fiber revenues were up 7% to PHP 44.5 billion, now accounting for 97% of total home revenues. We added 265,000 net fiber subs year to date, up 67% versus last year. Total fiber base is now 8% higher year-on-year. On Prepaid we have selectively introduced prepaid fiber in appropriate growth markets, specifically targeting quality subs who have a high probability of topping up regularly. In this way we're not only secure revenue growth but also sustainable profits in the long run. Prepaid Sub count has grown 15 times since end of 2024. ARPU held steady at 1470, the highest in the industry driven by our value based bundles such as video and gaming. Churn remained low at 1.9% reflecting strong customer loyalty and consistent network quality.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

To further extend our reach, we have launched Air Fiber and Laser internet, providing fiber-like speeds in hard-to-reach areas at lower cost. This technology expands our coverage and improves service availability in underserved locations. Overall, home continues to deliver solid growth underpinned by fiber leadership, ARPU and expanding access through new technologies. Let's now move on to enterprise.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Year to date revenues reach PHP 35.6 billion for the first nine months, broadly steady year-on-year, while corporate data and ICT revenues rose 2% year-on-year to PHP 26.7 billion. Within this, ICT revenues grew 27% year-on-year, driven by strong demand for managed IT Services up 115%, Data Center Colocation up 25%, Cybersecurity Services up 12%. Importantly, the business unit returned to growth during the third quarter, reversing earlier softness as delayed government projects pulls through. Enterprise revenue rose 5% versus the second quarter with corporate data and ICT up 7%, led by a 40% increase in ICT services. Corporate data and ICT now account for 75% of total enterprise revenues, reflecting our continuous shift toward high value services. PLDT also continues to strengthen its leadership in AI and data infra, positioning the group at the forefront of the country's digital transformation.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

We recently launched Filipinas AI, the country's first sovereign AI platform hosted at Vitro Santa Rosa. This platform enables the enterprise to build and deploy AI models locally, giving businesses access to GPU powered computing. On demand. For our wireless business, revenues reached PHP 63.2 billion for the first nine months, down slightly by PHP 0.3 billion versus last year due to legacy plans.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Data revenues, which now include mobile data and fixed wireless grew 1% year-on-year to PHP 57.3 billion, accounting for 91% of total wireless revenues. For the third quarter alone, data revenues were up 3% year-on-year, reflecting steady demand and continued monetization discipline. Fixed Wireless sustained strong momentum with revenues up 18% year-on-year as Smart leads the market by revenue share. If we remove fixed wireless mobile data, revenues rose 1% to PHP 56 billion. Performance was supported by stable data traffic growth, disciplined monetization, customer value management initiatives that help optimize spend and reduce marketing costs. 5G adoption continues to expand with the number of 5G devices up 30.39% year-on-year to 10.5 million, while data traffic grows 6% year-on-year to 4,393 petabytes. The share of 5G devices within the total base improved to 18%, driving higher data usage and improved customer experience.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

As we continue to innovate on the product side, we also stayed focused on cost discipline across the group. Total cash, Opex subsidies and provision for the first nine months of the year came in at PHP 63.1 billion, down PHP 1.1 billion or 2% versus last year. The biggest savings came from compensation and benefits, down 7% reflecting continued workforce optimization. Selling and promotions were also lower by 18%, driven by better campaign targeting and spend efficiency. Subsidies were also down by 25% reflecting Smart's deliberate shift towards higher quality acquisitions and tighter credit screening for postpaid device plans. On the other hand, repairs and maintenance rose 4% to PHP 23.6 billion reflecting ongoing network expansion and site rollouts. Contract specific services were up 25% tied to the ramp up of key enterprise and ICT projects.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

For the first nine months of 2025, EBITDA reached PHP 82.8 billion, up 3% year-on-year with margins steady at 52%. This performance reflects the combined impact of a one billion rise in revenues along with a 1.1 billion decline in operating costs. The 52% EBITDA margin has held firm, demonstrating our ability to defend profitability.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Even in a very competitive environment. Telco core income reached PHP 25.3 billion, down 5% year-on-year, mainly due to higher depreciation and financing costs from network and infra investments. Core income was steady at PHP 35.8 billion supported by continued earnings from Maya, whose consolidated core income hit PHP 1.6 billion year to date. Maya remained profitable for the third straight quarter, continuing to gain scale through higher transaction volumes, growing deposits and steady expansion in its lending and merchandise businesses. This quarter also includes PHP 2.6 billion in accelerated depreciation, a non-cash charge related to modernization of our core and IT systems and the retirement of legacy assets. Reported income stood at PHP 25.1 billion lower year-on-year, mainly reflecting the absence of last year's higher forex and derivative gains as well as the accelerated depreciation post this quarter.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

CapEx for the first nine months stood at PHP 43 billion, down from PHP 52.3 billion for the same period last year. CapEx intensity improved to 27% from 33% a year ago, driven by lower spend on network and IT as major projects near completion. For the full year 2025, CapEx guidance is lowered further to PHP 60 billion, lower than the original guidance of PHP 68 billion-PHP 73 billion. This is mainly due to more favorable pricing and terms.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

We continue to invest in new cell sites, LTE and 5G upgrades, home fiber and ports, data center development and submarine cables. These projects will strengthen network quality and support the growth of enterprise and digital services. As at end of September, net debt stood at PHP 289 billion translating to a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.61 times, slightly higher than the prior quarter but still within our target range. Our gross debt was at PHP 299 billion with 60% of maturities falling beyond 2030, providing a long runway and minimal near-term refinancing pressure. About 13% of total debt is USD.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

With only 5% unhedged, keeping forex exposure very manageable. The average interest cost was 5.49%, up slightly from last year's 5.08% as lower rate maturities refinanced. Our interest coverage ratio remains healthy at 3.37 times while our average debt maturity is 6.5 years. PLDT remains investment grade with ratings from S&P and Moody's. In terms of cash flow, we recorded PHP 1.1 billion in proceeds from tower sales and completed a PHP 20.5 billion final dividend payment for 2024 during the period. Incidentally, PLDT hit positive free cash flow as of September 2025 ahead of its forecasted 2026 target. Looking ahead, we are working towards reducing leverage to around 2.0 times net debt to EBITDA which will be supported by our asset monetization program as well as leverage lower capex. Now let me discuss Maya the Philippines all in one fintech platform powered by Maya Bank and Maya Philippines.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

It's a fully integrated platform that unites digital payments, savings and lending for both consumers and enterprises. Maya has created a powerful two-sided network where more customers drive more transactions, generating richer insights which enables higher cross-sell of products and ultimately delivering scale and profitability. Maya continues to lead with strong performance across deposits, loans and payments. Maya remains the number one merchant acquirer and card payment processor. It delivered PHP 532 million in net income in the third quarter, sustaining profitability while growing. Banked customers nearly doubled year-on-year to nine million while its cumulative borrower base grew 81% to 2.4 million. Deposits reached 57 billion, up 59% year-on-year and total loans disbursed since its inception hit 187 billion. Maya continues to onboard millions into the formal financial system, especially younger users and underserved segments.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

It continues to be the digital bank of choice for young customers across the country. Of the 9 million customers in just over three years, 84% comprise Gen Z and millennials and 76% are based outside of Metro Manila. Of the 2.4 million borrowers that Maya has given credit to, over half are first time borrowers with no previous lending history. Maya's deposit base has grown to PHP 56.7 billion as of September, more than doubling from end of 2023. It dispersed PHP 36 billion in quarter three alone, bringing its total loan disbursement since launch to PHP 187 billion. The loan book now stands at PHP 27 billion with loan to deposit ratio at 48%. Net interest margin rose to 18.9% for the first nine months while maintaining a healthy portfolio with an NPL ratio of 6.3%. Maya continues to expand its fintech ecosystem through product innovation and strategic partnerships.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Maya launched Maya Black, its premium credit card in quarter three, receiving a very strong response from the customers. Around 40% of Maya Black Card holders are first time credit users. Underscoring Maya's role in democratizing credit access to Filipinos, Maya also launched an innovative personal bonds product in the previous quarter that incentivize users to make periodical savings a habit by offering higher rates. Maya is also leveraging its relationship with established businesses like Cebuana Lhuillier to expand credit to unbanked customers through over 3,500 branches and 25,000 agents nationwide. In summary, Maya's strong growth across payments. Lending reflects the power of a fully digital integrated ecosystem.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

PLDT continues to mark progress in its sustainability journey as manifested in its latest ESG ratings which continue to register improvements. As you will see on the slide, we continue to align with global best practices and we have started to take part in global conversations at the Climate Week in New York. PLDT and Smart represented the Philippines at the United Nations Global Compact Leaders Summit which we showcased a homegrown innovation that integrates localized mapping of natural hazards and remote monitoring of network facilities into a single visual dashboard. We were also featured in the Philippines 2025 Voluntary National Review presented by the NEDA highlighting the country's progress on sustainable development goals.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Other highlights during the quarter include a workshop with our supply chains where we cascaded our biodiversity policies, particularly in the context of network rollouts. Smart also secured a PHP 2 billion green loan with proceeds to be used to accelerate the rollout of our 5G network nationwide which is more energy efficient. Now that concludes our prepared remarks for PLDT's nine months results. We're now open for questions.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Thank you so much Danny, for your insights. Before we open the floor to your questions, allow me to reintroduce our business leaders in the room. I'd like also to recognize our COO, Mr. Butch Jimenez, Aayush Jhunjhunwala of Maya, CIO of Maya has also joined us as well. And just to remind everyone, those who are in the room with us are our head of consumer business, Mr. John Palanca, our head of our enterprise business, Mr. Mitch Locsin, ePLDT and Vitro President, Mr. Viboy Genuino. Our OICs for Smart, Lloyd Manaloto and Marge Gargantiel. First we have our CFO, Mr. Danny Yu, our Chief Legal Officer, Ms. Joan De Venecia-Fabul and our Corporate Secretary, Ms. Marilyn Victorino-Aquino. All right, so for those who would like to ask questions, please feel free to put them in the Q&A box.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

We are also welcome to answer your questions live. Just feel free to raise your hand and we would more than happy to use this. All right, so the first question here is from Nikki Franco of Abacus Securities. This is for Maya. Given that Maya's lending was still strong in Q25, what were the main drivers for the drop in net income for the period? Were there any one-offs that were attributed to this? Ayush, would you like to get that?

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Sure. Jingai. Hi, thanks for the question. So there are a couple of factors that resulted in a slight drop. One was the slight impact of the removal of gaming links, the effect of which started to come in the August of 2023 as per BSP's direction. Secondly, as Danny mentioned, we launched. Maya Black credit card, and as I mentioned in the previous call as well, that we had launched our personal loan. So as we scale these longer duration. Loans, they will continue to have some excess provision impact in the near term. Medium term. Until the portfolio matures. So these are the two sort of main factors for that.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Thank you. Ayush. All right, it looks like we also have some questions here from Arthur Pineda of Citi. Let me just unmute you. All right, go ahead. Arthur.

[Arthur Pineda, Head of Asia Pacific Telecoms and Singapore Research at Citi]

Hi. Yes, thanks for the opportunity. Several questions please. Firstly, with regard to the KPA and the IRRs which have been released and signed by the President, how do you see this impacting your profitability as well as your investment profile going forward? I'm just wondering, do you see the new revenue opportunities as outweighing the revenue risks with regard to upcoming competition? Second question I had is with regard to mobile. We've seen this has been trailing that of your competitor for the third straight quarter. What's driving this difference in performance?

[Arthur Pineda, Head of Asia Pacific Telecoms and Singapore Research at Citi]

Is there any issue that the company? Needs to work out? And the third question is on enterprise. You mentioned an uptick in government projects earlier. I'm just wondering, are you seeing sustained uptake into the fourth quarter given that you've seen a slowdown in the broader macro momentum and government spending? Thank you.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Thank you, Arthur. Okay, we have three questions here. Perhaps we can take your first question, your second question first, which is on wireless. It's been raining for a while. Is there any difference in performance that you'd like to highlight? So Marge or Lloyd, would you like to take this?

[Marge Gargantiel, VP at Smart]

Alright, so for the wireless business.While we have been trading behind Globe in actual revenue, when you actually review the growth rates, we can actually see. That the Smart wireless group has actually. Achieved a flattish growth rate for year to date 2025 versus Globe. It's actually more of a negative. Number two, the actual Q3 achievement versus last year. Smart is also ahead versus Globe. Now what's interesting is that what we've actually managed to do is using tools like hyper targeting, we actually have been able to secure higher quality subspace, so much so that our ARPUs for Smart have actually improved. So we're actually at a positive 2.5%. On our RF for Smart versus Globe.

[Marge Gargantiel, VP at Smart]

For example, which is at -5.5%. We do believe that with tools like this and actually focusing on how we could generate more positive growth, we should be able to at least stabilize and actually sustain our mobile resilience.

[Lloyd Manaloto, OIC at Smart]

Also, we'd like to add to the. fact that we've of ePLDT's wireless. Wire enterprise is rapidly growing and it's driven by our investment in 5G and 5G devices. So that's one area that we're also focusing on as a total portfolio because we see the bigger growth.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Thank you, Marge. Thank you, Lloyd. Let's take your question on enterprise next in terms of the status update in the fourth quarter. Locsin, would you like to take it?

[Mitch Locsin, First VP and Head of Enterprise and International Business Groups at PLDT]

Yeah, sure. Thanks for the question, Arthur.So with ePLDT Enterprise, yes, we are seeing the continued momentum, as we mentioned before, into the fourth quarter and also into early Q1. As you can imagine, some of the major of the projects will probably result in some slippage of award dates, cetera, which is quite normal.

[Mitch Locsin, First VP and Head of Enterprise and International Business Groups at PLDT]

But we're seeing steady still that level of investment and activity. There's a lot of, across both national government agencies, LGUs, continued demand here that we're serving on both the connectivity and the ICT side. Thank you.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Can I add?

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Yes, of course.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Just, I guess, a couple of insights on where the government is going to land in terms of sustaining their investments in. Digital connectivity. Of course, I can't speak for the government at this point in time, but generally what we see is that they are going to continue their trust and their investments in being able to connect the Philippines digitally. I don't see that slowing down. And I think that after realizing that they've spent too much on flood control, they've started to sense that maybe they should start shifting some of that expense or that spend to other areas. And digitizing or providing digital connectivity to various aspects of Philippine society is something that they are talking about prioritizing. So first let's talk about data centers. The government, or PBBM, has already given the DICT an order for public sector data sovereignty that becomes a big driver for the enterprise group in terms of possible revenues in the future.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Principally because we do have the biggest data center in the Philippines and we are the only ones at this point in time that can provide GPU as a service leading towards AI. Aside from that, the GIDA site investment or initiative of the government has just finished its bidding. PLDT and Globe has gotten its fair share of rolling out into 80 sites. So that is going to add revenue for our company. At the same time, continue the investments of the government in connectivity. Now, tomorrow I will be presenting to the PSAC, the Private Sector Advisory Council, a couple of more initiatives to digitize state universities in the Philippines and the other one is health care centers in the Philippines. So it looks like they are realizing that we are far behind our Asian or ASEAN neighbors when it comes to digital connectivity.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

And it's one of the priorities that I think the President and the government is going to push forward in 2026 and beyond. So looking forward to a sustained investment of the government in connectivity.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Thank you, sir. Right, the last question. Victorino-Aquino, would you like to take this one?

[Marilyn Victorino-Aquino, Chief Legal Officer at PLDT]

Hello. Hello [audio distortion]. Opportunities. It's difficult to assess the opportunities right now because this is the first country where they are going to roll out the open access all assets model. So we don't know in what shape or form it will transform. It will basically take form in the Philippines. But aside from that, if there are new players that are with their vision and philosophy that allows them and.

[Marilyn Victorino-Aquino, Chief Legal Officer at PLDT]

To invest in the Philippines, invest in new infrastructure that will complement and supplement our network. That is an opportunity that we can consider because it will strengthen our network together and we may be able to improve the connectivity for the entire country. And maybe that will help innovation of the Konektadong Pinoy. To have more connectivity even in the GIDAs area can also improve the internet connectivity within the entire country. But that requires. But that is something that we can find with an opportunity that we can explore and exploit and create new partnerships around that. But if it is pure access. It's hard to. Assess the opportunity right now because we don't know how it will be rolled out in the Philippines. Open access for all assets.

[Manuel V. Pangilinan, CEO at PLDT]

No indications on the IRRs based on what's been signed by the President so far?

[Marilyn Victorino-Aquino, Chief Legal Officer at PLDT]

I'm sorry, indications on how we feel about the IRR.

[Manuel V. Pangilinan, CEO at PLDT]

How we feel about the IRR. Mr. Pangilinan answered that earlier in the media preparation. Maybe.

[Marilyn Victorino-Aquino, Chief Legal Officer at PLDT]

His answer. Sure, sure. So he had a very.

[Marilyn Victorino-Aquino, Chief Legal Officer at PLDT]

He had a statement earlier that he shared with the media. So I'll just quote what he mentioned and I'll share it with you, Arthur. So when he was asked about PLDT's overall view on the final IRR, he answered by turning the question around. Right. Do we think that the law as written actually achieves what it set out to do? Cheaper Internet for all, wider coverage, more infrastructure? Because the law and its IRR right now do not impose any obligation on new entrants to build infrastructure. There's no requirement to start in geographically isolated or disadvantaged areas and there's no service obligations to ensure coverage or quality. And if you recall, in the Ramos administration there was a sound model under the service area scheme where telcos were assigned specific regions and targets like reaching the number of households to be connected. Right.

[Marilyn Victorino-Aquino, Chief Legal Officer at PLDT]

And that created real infrastructure build out at that time. And the Konektadong Pinoy law on the other hand does not have such conditions. So really the question remains on whether it will truly deliver on its promises. So that was the statement shared by MVP earlier on the IRR.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Got it.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Thank you very much.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Thank you, Arthur. All right, we have another hand raised from Ranjan Sharma. Let me go ahead and unmute you.

[Ranjan Sharma, Executive Director at JP Morgan]

Hi, good evening and thank you for the presentation. Can you hear me?

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Yes, we can.

[Ranjan Sharma, Executive Director at JP Morgan]

Thanks for the opportunity. My questions are related to the KPA as well. Can you help us understand how the wholesale access pricing mechanism is going to be set when you're being asked to open up a network? On what basis are wholesale access prices that you will be charging any access seekers? Is this completely on commercial terms? Is there a cost model associated with it? The second question is on the spectrum. I think there's also spectrum management provisions. As well as which includes drawback of underutilized spectrum. Can you help us understand how that? Might impact the industry as well? Thank you.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

In terms of the pricing, I don't think there has been any. Specific model that was shared in the IRR. The way it was drafted was that the incumbents are to submit our price list in the reference access offer, and that will be reviewed by the regulators to determine if it is fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory. So I think there's really no specifics at this time, Ranjan, on using any specific model.

[Marilyn Victorino-Aquino, Chief Legal Officer at PLDT]

Yes, maybe I may add to that.In fact, it is. It is not clear to us because we already have open access bilateral contractual commitments. Right now we do open access on a contractual basis, but it's not clear to us, for example, whether or not the pricing that we have agreed based on voluntary contracts with counterparties will be the same price that will be approved by the regulators, and there is also a provision in the IRR which says if you have been determined to be a significant market player, then the regulator may.

[Marilyn Victorino-Aquino, Chief Legal Officer at PLDT]

Scrutinize repricing, and what that means is not clear to us. Whether or not significant market players will be required to price down their offering compared to contractual commitments that they entered into before connectivity? It's not very clear to us, so on the spectrum underutilization.Is that a question?

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Management provisions, how we see this impacting our business? Well.

[Marilyn Victorino-Aquino, Chief Legal Officer at PLDT]

It will have an impact on.The business, but.

[Marilyn Victorino-Aquino, Chief Legal Officer at PLDT]

Please appreciate that right now there is no standard for underutilization. It really depends on how you use the spectrum. If you use the spectrum as a macro site, the utilization might be different. If you use the spectrum to cover.

[Marilyn Victorino-Aquino, Chief Legal Officer at PLDT]

Basically blind spots or if you use it to have continuous travel, the utilization would be different, and so the spectrum management policy is intended to, I think, come up with that, and hopefully there will be consultation with the stakeholders like us who are using the spectrum and.

[Marilyn Victorino-Aquino, Chief Legal Officer at PLDT]

Hopefully there will be a transition period. If they set, if they define for example underutilization as such, then the next day they will start recording the spectrum that might not be there because it's basically a totally new definition of underutilization which we are unable to comply. The next day they will start recording. So that is what's not clear. But I think they will have a period from the effectivity of the IRR to come up with a spectrum. Management policy. That's not very clear right now.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Thank you, Marilyn

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Thank you.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Okay, looks like we have some questions here as well from. So two questions on net debt. You mentioned that net debt to EBITDA will be reduced to two times. Which year is this expected to be achieved? So that's the first question. Second question, net debt to EBITDA is increasing a lot faster than net profits. Where in the business is debt going into?

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

We continue to spend on it, network rollout and data center development. So. That's where the debt go to. Now with respect to projection, I think it will be about three to four years from now going to the 2.0. But certainly I think the positive news that we finally achieved positive free cash flow as of September ahead of our forecast in 2026. That's one good news and we hope to sustain this with lower CapEx moving forward as well as with our money monetization program.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Thank you. We also have a question related to that. Regarding our positive free cash flows. How confident are we that we can sustain this into 2026?

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

We're confident because we will have lower CapEx moving forward as mentioned earlier because of our asset monetization program.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

And, also, this is a common question that was sent to us earlier. Any updates on the current asset monetization programs, namely, the data center stake sale as well as the copper sales on the data center?

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

We're currently in talks with prospective investor. Who intends to take around 49% of the business. At the same time we're also exploring the possibility of doing a relisting for our data center just in case the other falls through.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Thank you, Danny. All right, we have another question here from John Te of UBS. Let me just go ahead and unmute you.John, go ahead.

[John Palanca, VP at PLDT]

Hi, good afternoon.Two questions. First is on the fixed broadband net adds, quite strong 95,000 compared to your run rate of 70,000 in the first half, so how much of this was prepaid, how much of this was postpaid, and what drove the acceleration there?

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

John, would you mind taking this? Thank you.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Hi John, how are you? So thank you for the question. Yes, we've actually been able to build up the install rates over the last quarter. These top are.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Install team, so we.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

were able to gather more. I guess.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

All I can say is.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

That in the third quarter we've seen. More than a threefold increase in the prepaid subscriptions and we're doing this in a very different way. I think I mentioned in the previous quarter that while we are growing the pie to ensure that the ARPUs remain at the high level and not cannibalizing postpaid, our acquisition of prepaid has been very targeted to areas where prepaid applies. Going to buy from tier A. Tier B municipalities to what is now probably Tier C and probably opportunities. It's very selective, so we will not be seeing the same volumes, but what we will be seeing are the quality subscribers who have. The high propensity to top up. As mentioned, from the beginning of the year we have grown more than 3x already. 3.3x to be exact. Once we're ready to release the figures, we have a sizable market share, our subscriber base on prepaid and we will do so. At the moment the majority of. It is coming from our postpaid acquisitions.

[Arthur Pineda, Head of Asia Pacific Telecoms and Singapore Research at Citi]

Okay, thank you. A quick follow up on, maybe for Danny, on depreciation. There was 2 plus billion charge in nine months, but safe to assume that most of it came from the third quarter.The related question on interest expense. Given that debt really hasn't changed, but there was a spike on year-on-year interest expense. Would this mainly come from I guess leases for towers, etc.? Thank you.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

I'll take the second question first. The reason for the increase in interest is mainly due to. Increase in the weighted average rate by around 49 basis points. That's the second reason for that is that also increase in the weighted loan average by around PHP 19 billion compared to the previous year. So that's for the second. What was the first question again?

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Accelerated depreciation of PHP 2.6 billion.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

It's mainly retirement of legacy assets as well as modernization of our IT and network system.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Thank you. And most of you are excited.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

It's a fast-paced capital-intensive industry and it's rapidly changing. So we have to continually review the economic life of these assets.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Most of it occurred in the third quarter, right?

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Yes, in the third quarter. I think we recorded that in July of this year.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Okay, thank you Danny. Thank you management team. Thank you.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Box. Okay, so some questions that were sent in as well. This one is for enterprise. You recently launched SmartSafe as well as Filipinas AI. How do you see these contributions contributing to your revenues moving forward?

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Tackle SmartSafe and how we have ePLDT in Vitro. Tackle the Pilipinas AI announcement.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

So, on the SmartSafe, yes, we. We've actually been bringing this to customers already even in Q3, but we did a commercial launch just last week basically with SmartSafe. This takes advantage of specific technology on the Smart network that makes it as secure for someone to have a transaction on a mobile app that's enabled for this so that they don't need an OTP. So it's a very seamless log on but also just as secure as an OTP type motion. You bypass the risk of your OTP being intercepted, et cetera, which is very common nowadays. From a revenue standpoint, of course, this is a capability. We need to work with other B2B companies that have apps, so the banking system, government apps, et cetera. For them to build this into very simple to do it. For them to build it into the next release of their app.So that's a motion that's happening now. We're quite excited that we have.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Several.Institutions with apps that are interested in this and looking to launch it as soon as possible. So we'll keep the team posted in terms of what that is turning over to Viboy.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Yes, thank you Jinggay, for the question on Filipinas AI. So yes, we launched this in the third quarter of this year and the basic concept is to be able to offer a platform for enterprises to be able to run AI use cases. The main issue of enterprises now is that they want to run AI use cases or proof of concepts, but they don't know how to utilize and how to build the infrastructure around it. They have to source for the GPUs, they need to talk to a SaaS provider, they need to talk to a data center, they need to provide the connectivity and the cybersecurity quirement. We're basically taking this pain away from the customer and letting them run these data applications on a SaaS.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Model wherein they can run the POCs on an hourly, daily, weekly or a monthly view. And we've seen a lot of interest coming from enterprise customers who really want to experiment and run AI use cases. So we're very happy to be able to offer this service to our customers. We're the first company in the Philippines to actually bring in Nvidia H200G GPUs, the most advanced GPUs of Nvidia currently. And we're seeing a lot of interest currently. Thank you.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Thank you. This question is from Rod. This question is for Danny, noting that your debt levels have increased this year despite continuous lower CapEx guidance. Does this mean, mainly for refinancing? Increased net debt despite lower Capex guidance? So is the increase that because of mostly refinancing or is there new.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Mostly refinancing? Yeah, mostly refinancing.

[Manuel V. Pangilinan, CEO at PLDT]

Thank you.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

All right, and from Tony Watson [uncertain], any thoughts on this? This is for Ayush. Any thoughts that you can share on a potential Maya IPO or spinoff?

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

I think we'll stay clear of that.I think we are focused on driving the business and, you know, any IPO decisions, etc., will be led by the shareholders, but we as management are sort of fully focused on just executing and scaling our products.

[Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations at PLDT]

Just doing a last scan for questions here, if there's any from the floor.Okay.It looks like there are no further questions. With that said, I'd like to thank everybody for your time today and joining us for our nine-month briefing. If you have any further questions that you'd like to send to us, please feel free to reach out to us by email. And with that said, we look forward to presenting our full year results by February of next year. All right, thank you, everyone. Have a good afternoon.

[Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya]

Thank you. Thank you.

[Danny Yu, CFO at PLDT]

Thank you.

Participants

Executives

• Jinggay Nograles, Head of Investor Relations
• Danny Yu, CFO
• John Palanca, VP
• Marilyn Victorino-Aquino, Chief Legal Officer
• Manuel V. Pangilinan, CEO
• Mitch Locsin, First VP and Head of Enterprise and International Business Groups

Analysts

• Ranjan Sharma, Executive Director at JP Morgan
• Lloyd Manaloto, OIC at Smart
• Marge Gargantiel, VP at Smart
• Aayush Jhunjhunwala, CIO at Maya
• Arthur Pineda, Head of Asia Pacific Telecoms and Singapore Research at Citi