Tag Archives: PLDT

… Meanwhile, PLDT says…

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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.

MASS MEDIA MOGUL ON PRESS FREEDOM IN AN ERA OF DISINFORMATION

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“And Katharine Graham made a very risky decision without knowing what the newspaper really stands for…The concept of standing up for the principles of press freedom. She made a very momentous choice by saying, ‘Publish’.”

And quoting from the movie, “The Post”, Pangilinan said, ‘News is the first draft of history.”

PLDT Inc chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan (or MVP, as popularly known in business circles) was our guest speaker during the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines (EJAP) induction of officers on 2 February. We were told he will not give a keynote address and would just induct the incoming officers for 2018.

He surprised us with an impromptu speech, starting with the story of The Post, the Tom Hanks-Meryl Streep movie about the Pentagon Papers and the Washington Post. I think he was inspired by the movie that he was prompted to give a short speech about mass media. (He watches at least two movies a month, he said).

And as the owner of two newspapers, The Philippine Star and Businessworld, and broadcasting company TV5 Network Inc, PLDT should know the pitfalls and difficult decisions a media outfit needs to make, especially during a time when press freedom is under heavy attack.

By telling the story of The Post to us business journos, Pangilinan was relaying to us his reflections on the repercussions or the rewards of bringing out the truth…and the snowballing of the Pentagon papers and later on, the Watergate scandal.

“So it just points out to the very valuable role that media plays in a democracy like ours,” he said.

“And everyone, including the leadership, must accept that is important. It is not a weakness but it is actually a source of strength.”