2006 Annual Report - Lopez Holdings Corporation

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Customers are served at Bayan Centers in malls and other convenient locations. (Top right) BayanTel head office in Diliman,
Quezon City. (Below) BayanTel’s customer service representatives answer queries by phone and through the internet.
telecommunications
Bayan Telecommunications, Inc.’s (BayanTel) total
revenues grew by 10% YoY to ∏7.57 billion from ∏6.89
billion. Net operating revenue was almost flat at ∏4.78
billion compared to ∏4.72 billion, while net income of
∏974 million was a turnaround from a net loss of ∏541
million the previous year.
BayanTel continued to innovate with DSL (Digital
Subscriber Line) services, offering three types of business
packages designed for the different requirements of
business users, including WiFi or wireless internet
access and bigger email and web capacities. Its popular
SkyDSL service targeted toward students and young
professionals has a Speed on Demand feature that allows
users to shift up to double their subscribed speed when
they log in between 10 pm and 10 am.
Its prepaid BL@ST Internet Card continued to be a
favorite because of its flexibility. For ∏100, BL@ST can
be used as a regular 20-hour dial-up card, a one-hour Wi-
Fi on DSL speeds, or to access a combination of the two
services. Credits are pro-rated depending on the usage of
the two services and on the remaining peso value of the
card. BL@ST cards of whatever design and e-PINs can be
used for both dial-up and Wi-Fi accesses.
BayanTel was able to meet all debt service requirements
under its Court-approved rehabilitation plan, despite
encountering major challenges in its major business
lines. Declining revenues, particularly in domestic and
international long distance, weighed unfavorably against
BayanTel. Landline subscribers remained relatively
unchanged from the previous year at about 290,000.
bayantel expands with spAn
The biggest challenge for BayanTel remains how to
maintain its competitiveness amidst the surge of wireless
voice and data market demands. Its answer is to blaze the
trail in new and disruptive technologies that have emerged,
particularly wireless local loop (WLL) and wireless
broadband.
BayanTel aggressively rolled out its WLL service under
the brand name SPAN. It is now available in Marikina and
Manila and in key cities such as Naga, Legaspi, Tacloban,
Davao, and General Santos.
The key customer benefit of WLL is that it combines
the unlimited calling feature of the landline with the limited
mobility function of a wireless network. It operates in a
CDMA (code division multiple access) platform which
supports voice, SMS (short message service), MMS
(multimedia message service) and broadband data.
The SPAN phone is as big as a regular mobile phone. It
also has the intelligence of the standard mobile phone such
as phone directory, caller ID, stopwatch, timer, call logs, and
others. Because the service allows text messaging, users
can send messages to SPAN users, as well as existing
users of other mobile services.
Since its formal launch in July 2006, BayanTel has become
the leading provider of WLL service with the most number
of subscribers and widest coverage of WLL operators.
To support the expected growth of SPAN, BayanTel is
allocating a significant portion of its capital expenditures
in 2007 to put up more base stations to further expand
coverage nationwide.
BayanTel is also in the developmental stages of its wireless
broadband service which is expected to figure prominently
in BayanTel’s business growth moving forward.
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