November 12, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Telco giant PLDT Inc. has achieved positive cash flow for the first time since 2018, banking on the success of efforts to bring down capital expenditures in the face of a challenging landscape.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, PLDT reported an 11-percent decline in its profit to P25.07 billion between January and September, from P28.07 billion a year ago.
Likewise, PLDT’s core income, measured as profit from flagship services, dipped by five percent to P25.56 billion, dragged by back-on-back slowdown from wireless and enterprise segments.
However, PLDT has marked its first return to positive cash flow since 2018, as the telco delivers on its capex reduction to ease spending pressures. In line with this, PLDT has spent P43 billion as of September, down by 18 percent from a year earlier’s P52.3 billion.
PLDT chief financial officer Danny Yu said the company expects a further decline in capex this year on favorable deals struck with vendors. Initially, PLDT had set a capex of P68 billion to P73 billion for 2025, but this has been scaled down to P60 billion.
Given this, PLDT climbed to positive cash flow ahead of the 2026 target, and Yu said the telco is on pace to stay in this territory from here onward.
As earlier reported by The STAR, PLDT is considering another capex cut in 2026, setting it at a range of P50 billion to P60 billion.
Further, PLDT is in no hurry to make aggressive network expansion right now, as the company manages the country’s widest cable infrastructure of 1.24 million kilometers.
Still, PLDT is looking for a revenue bump from the wireless group, which contributes the biggest share among all segments. PLDT’s wireless business has been struggling to grow recently, with revenue falling flat at P63.2 billion.
Smart Communications Inc. officer in charge Marjorie Garrovillo said the telco is challenged by the market saturation in the wireless segment. Given this, what Smart is trying to do is maintain, if not improve, its average revenue per user by targeting specific sectors.
The positive light for PLDT is that the Maya Group is now posting a consistent amount of profit, showing it is well on its way to becoming a stable business for the telco.
As of September, Maya has booked a profit of P1.6 billion and has contributed P603 million in equity to PLDT. It is estimated to grow thrice management’s target this year.
