Globe Telecom, the Philippines’ second largest operator, reported strong earnings growth in Q3, with revenue across all its business lines expanding and mobile data users more than doubling.

Its net income for the quarter ending 30 September jumped 47 per cent to PHP5.4 billion ($115.6 million) and EBITDA increased 13 per cent to PHP12 billion. An 18 per cent increase in service revenue in Q3 to PHP29.5 billion was driven by an 8 per cent rise in mobile turnover, a 50 per cent increase in broadband revenue and a 46 per cent gain in fixed-line voice revenue.

Its acquisition of Bayan Telecommunications in Q3 boosted its revenue by nearly PHP1.5 billion and EBITDA by PHP577 million.

The number of mobile data users increased 126 per cent to 18.6 million over the past year, and mobile data revenue increased 39 per cent. Globe said data traffic expanded 89 per cent during the period. Total data revenue accounted for 43 per cent of total service revenue.

The operator, with a 41 per cent market share, expanded its mobile user base 17 per cent to 42.85 million year-on-year, with most of the growth coming from prepaid. It added more than seven million prepaid customers, up 17 per cent, while its postpaid base increased 9 per cent.

Postpaid ARPU was down 3 per cent from a year ago to PHP1,137 ($24.33), and ARPU for both its Globe and TM mass-market prepaid brands fell 3 per cent to PHP126 and 6 per cent to PHP74 respectively.

It now has almost 40 million broadband customers, up 57 per cent from a year ago.

Capex in the quarter rose 8 per cent year-on-year to PHP22.9 billion. The company said 64 per cent of its 27,600 base stations support 4G.