PLDT Chairman Manuel Pangilinan addressing fellow shareholders today during the annual meeting. Photo by Callmecreation.com

… There is still no global standard yet for 5G so commercial roll out may still be in 2020. PLDT [PSE:TEL] Chairman Manuel Pangilinan said they have not yet figured out if by 2019 they would still prioritize the installation of fixed lines (fiber) or concentrate on 5G to bring broadband to customers. For 2018, PLDT will still continue with its fiber rollout but after that is still going to be internally discussed within the group.

You see, PLDT has earmarked PHP 58bn (USD 1.1bn) for capital expenditures for 2018 alone. It had to sell down its stake in Rocket Internet to partly finance this capex. It can’t add more to its outstanding debts and Pangilinan said they must maintain their debt/EBITDA at 2. The company is in a quandary as to how it will keep its financials healthy in a capital-intensive industry that is constantly changing. In a briefing last year, Pangilinan said that PLDT has to study how it can harness 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) and they still have to figure out how they can finance its capex down the line to keep up with these new tech.

The company’s goals for the next 12 months are:

And I didn’t get much meat from that.