I am proud to report that we indeed see the fruits of our deliberate efforts to grow beyond telco and use our assets and unfair advantage towards being a technology company (techco). 

We started with an earnest desire to uplift the lives of our customers by addressing their various pain points. We looked for problems large enough to do business at scale and developed innovative technology-based solutions to address them. Driven by this, we have successfully carved our presence in fintech through GCash, healthtech through KonsultaMD, adtech via Brave Connective, edutech with Edventure and KodeGo, climate tech, e-commerce, manpower services, IT, media, entertainment, and more. 

While we pursued our telco to techco goal, our core connectivity business remained robust and dynamic across the business segments. We registered a remarkable business performance despite a challenging economic environment of high inflation, increased regulatory risks, and stiff competition. 

Globe posted a Net Income After Tax of ₱34.6 billion in 2022, a 46% increase year-on-year, while our consolidated EBITDA stood at ₱79.1 billion, 6% higher than in 2021, enabling an overall healthy EBITDA margin of 50%. 

Your company’s financial discipline, strong knowledge of the new customer, and a culture of constant innovation have been our key strengths. We closed a ~₱91 billion deal through the sale and leaseback of our towers, which will significantly improve the overall health of Globe’s balance sheet and provide sufficient flexibility to properly compete in this dynamic market as well as further expand its digital ecosystem. Apart from this, Globe was the first in the market to offer TMBayan Fiber WiFi, the first of its kind unlimited prepaid fiber that will make fiber internet affordable and accessible to the broader Filipino market. 

Uplift the Filipino as One Globe Group

As One Globe Group, we’re guided by our vision of seeing a Philippines where families’ dreams come true, businesses flourish and the nation is admired. Our digital solutions and innovations ecosystem aims for a long-term impact on Filipinos and the country. 

Our manpower portfolio company, Asticom Technology, Inc., broadened its outsourcing services by providing employment to more than 5,200 employees since its inception, serving more than 200 clients from all over the country. 

Kickstart Ventures currently manages two funds for Globe and the Ayala Corporation Technology Innovation Venture (ACTIVE) Fund, continuing its entrepreneurial momentum and leveraging on investments in technology to create an equitable future. 

917Ventures incubates promising startups, venturing with Ayala Corporation for a larger AC ecosystem. Last November, 917Ventures, Ayala and Gogoro announced their entry into the climate tech space with the launch of a strategic partnership which will bring global two-wheel electric vehicle and battery swapping technology leader Gogoro to the Philippines. 

KonsultaMD, HealthNow, and AIDE effectively democratized access to healthcare for communities. By the first quarter of 2023, the three digital healthcare service platforms will be consolidated to create one super-app. It currently has 2 million users on the platform. 

ECPay also significantly grew its digital merchant partnerships, with general trade retail of 423,761, exceeding its target of 400 thousand. 

KodeGo, 917Venture’s study now, pay later education service helps college graduates learn web development and other IT courses that will allow them to find employment easily. The company matching support has almost 500 graduates, with over 100 placements. The tech bootcamp also won the Ayala Innovation Excellence Awards (AIXA) for 2022. 

EDVENTURE, an online tutorial platform that helps Filipino educators and provides online tutorials for students, currently has over 1,100 active tutors, around 5,000 paid learning sessions, and around 10,000 registered parents. 

Enable the Digital Transformation of Businesses

Equally important, we built business solutions for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to achieve success through digitization. Globe offered a variety of resources, solutions, and advancements to optimize value creation across business functions. Globe launched the Globe Business Academy and the Globe Business Upstart loyalty program designed to provide information, tools, and services relevant to digital leadership, adoption, and partnerships. In addition to these resources, RUSH and Paymongo teamed up to create the RUSH eStore Spark to provide enterprises with essential business tools that could help them succeed in the e-commerce landscape. Globe also paved the way for new generation innovation by offering Work Anywhere Solution and Contact-center-as-a-service (CCaaS) solutions, helpful ICT ecosystems addressing the challenges in remote work setups in companies. We also created Globe Group’s adtech and data arm through Brave Connective Holdings, Inc., consisting of AdSpark, DeepSea, Inquiro, and m360, to empower businesses with access to reliable data management tools that bring them closer to their customers and aid in data-driven decision-making. 

Constantly Improve the End-to-End Customer Experience

As the country further increased its reliance on digital technologies, we expanded our network coverage and improved our infrastructure to address the growing need for consistent and reliable #1stWorldNetwork. Our determined efforts to deliver network consistency were recognized by Ookla®️ as the Philippines’ Most Reliable Mobile Network for retaining its top position over three consecutive quarters in 2022. Globe received an All Technology Consistency Score of 83.13. By catering to the demand for high-speed broadband lines, we took the initiative to double our 5G footprint, providing an enjoyable faster network speeds in 70 cities and towns across the Philippines. Compared to 4G/LTE, 5G technology provides better connection stability suited for world-class customer experiences and the latest tech in terms of connectivity. 

Drive Long-Term Impact for the Nation

As part of our commitment to Net Zero, we have secured an ISO 50001:2018 certification for Energy Management System (EnMS) to help guide and operationalize our climate action strategy for the network. We shifted a total of 24 high-energy utilization facilities to renewable energy through Power Purchase Agreements (PPA) bundled with retirable Renewable Energy Certificates (REC). We deployed over 9,000 Green Network Solutions and energy-efficient equipment in our operations to drive energy efficiency and network optimization. We also piloted alternative hybrid power sources (i.e., hybrid solar gensets) and employee EV Shuttles to reduce reliance on fuel consumption. All these programs have contributed to the 4.42% reduction in your company’s total Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions. 

As an advocate of online safety, we developed learning pathway modules for our employees on data privacy management and standards. With the clear goal of creating a safe space for our customers, especially the youth, we blocked 401,487 weblinks and domains on child pornography and supported the National Privacy Commission (NPC)’s campaign to provide materials on children’s privacy rights as a means to combat child exploitation and pornography. Furthermore, Globe successfully blocked 2.72 billion spam and scam messages, deactivated 20,226 numbers and blacklisted 35,333 numbers linked to spam and scam messages in 2022. To combat the onslaught of illegal streaming and downloading of pirated content in the Philippines, we continue working with the Asia Video Industry Association to advocate for proper on site blocking and intellectual property rights legislation.

The well-being of our employees is our utmost priority. With the hybrid work arrangement, we continue to ensure their safety from COVID by providing our employees with a vaccination program, a testing facility with a quick turnaround time, and indoor 24/7 real-time environmental and coronavirus risk monitoring and management. Social activities such as the 917 GDay, Halloween, and the Globe Christmas party have reestablished camaraderie among Ka-Globe. Aside from our employees’ physical and social well-being, we continue to promote overall mental wellness. 

We have rolled out a Mental Health Policy, which extends its medical benefits to cover psychiatric medicines. We maintained a very strong engagement score of 92% in 2022, higher than global and Philippine norms by three (3) percentage points. 

To further embed sustainability in our business operations, we have updated and developed new ESG-linked policies to make them relevant to the rapidly changing environmental and societal landscape. These include the Environmental Sustainability Policy, Health and Safety Policy, Business Continuity Management Policy, Responsible Reorganization of Management Policy Commitment, and Tax Policy Statement. We remain steadfast in our commitment to promote sustainability along our supply chain by integrating sustainability criteria in our procurement process and engaging our suppliers to adopt environmentally sound management practices, respect human and labor rights, and good governance standards. 

As a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact, your company also supported the Private Sector Champions (PSC) Initiative of its local network, Global Compact Network Philippines, through the Planet Pillar. The PSC Planet Pillar aims to help MSMEs in their post pandemic path to recovery and resiliency by enhancing their capabilities in plastic and solid waste management, clean energy production and conservation, and water stewardship. 

As an active member of the GSMA, a global organization unifying the mobile ecosystem, we are a member of the Climate Action Task Force and Project Circular Economy for Devices. In 2022, Globe participated in the development of the ESG Metrics for Mobile, which aims to drive consistent and comparable metrics across the industry. Globe is among the few members of GSMA that have pilot tested the new Metrics in the 2022 Globe Integrated Report.

Approaching 2030, which is the deadline for attaining global UN SDG targets, the Globe Group is striving to fulfill its sustainability commitments as it enables innovative and disruptive digital solutions to uplift Filipino lives every day. 

In support of the government’s digitalization efforts, Globe became a member of the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC), which brings together the power of the government and the private sector to push for digital transformation in the country toward Filipino empowerment. One of PSAC’s programs is GoDigital Pilipinas (GDP), whose goals align with Globe’s long-standing programs under the Globe of Good, a convenor of GDP, which seeks to bridge the digital gap and ensure online safety and security, and foster sustainability in the digital world. 

In December, the SIM Registration Act took full effect and it is expected to rationalize our subscriber base. Your company remains confident that at the end of the registration process period, we will hold an active core customer base while maintaining our gross service revenues. 

Outlook and the Road Ahead

Guided by our strategic initiatives, a strong sense of purpose, and a clear commitment to serving our customers, we are well-positioned for growth. We will continue to optimize our digital solutions ecosystem, with connectivity at the core of our business. Together, as One Globe Group, we will help shape our country’s digital future.