PLDT’s profit fell 8% to ₱21.7 billion in the first nine months of 2026 despite earning more from its services. Higher costs tied to the aging of its equipment and other assets weighed on earnings, while total revenues grew 2% to ₱166.2 billion.
PLDT Inc. earned ₱23.65 billion in profit a year earlier. Services for businesses led service revenue growth as more customers used wireless connections, international links, and data centers.
“We managed to grow revenues in a tough market, a tougher environment,” said Manuel V. Pangilinan, chair and CEO, PLDT and Smart. “We obviously have a lot of work ahead of us. We’ve invested in our network, our technology, and our people. Now we need to turn those investments into better service for our customers and stronger growth for the business,”
Depreciation and amortization increased to ₱43.5 billion from ₱41.8 billion. These are accounting costs that spread the price of equipment and other assets over the years they are used. Better operating earnings and lower financing costs helped limit their effect on profit.
Core income, which removes certain gains and losses from reported earnings, fell 4% to ₱24.4 billion. Telco core income declined 6% to ₱23.5 billion. A bigger contribution from Maya and gains from asset sales helped support core income.
Data and broadband brought in ₱126.5 billion, accounting for 86% of net service revenues. Overall net service revenues, which exclude fees for connecting with other networks, increased 1% to ₱146.9 billion.
PLDT Enterprise’s net service revenues grew 4% to ₱37.2 billion. Without older services, revenues increased 8% to ₱31.2 billion as businesses spent more on connectivity and digital tools.
The group’s information and communications technology business recorded 6% revenue growth. Customers used more cloud computing, data, artificial intelligence (AI), and data center services.
At its ICT arm ePLDT, revenues from renting out computing resources grew 40%. Revenues from data and AI services increased 19%, with demand coming from financial services companies, utilities, retailers, and government agencies.
VITRO’s data center business grew 11%. Revenues from housing customers’ servers and equipment increased 10%, while connectivity revenues grew 15%. VITRO said it would have 44 megawatts of power available for IT equipment by year-end to serve demand.
Wireless Consumer revenues increased 1% to ₱63.5 billion. Mobile data and fixed wireless internet brought in ₱58.7 billion, up 3%, and accounted for 92% of the business’s revenues.
Customers also used more data, with total traffic increasing 14%. Active data users reached 44.3 million at the end of September, compared with 42.4 million a year earlier. The number of individual devices capable of using 5G reached 12.9 million.
PLDT Home earned ₱44.8 billion in revenues and had 3.8 million prepaid and postpaid fiber subscribers. Fiber services accounted for 98% of Home revenues.
Spending on network equipment and other assets fell 15% to ₱36.6 billion. PLDT said it continued improving coverage and reliability. PLDT and Smart activated 260 sites in the third quarter, including six in remote and underserved areas. The group’s fiber network covered about 1.26 million cable kilometers.