Accelerated PH Digital Shift to Track Global Trend

Globe expects Filipinos’ rapid adoption of digital services to gain even more momentum in the coming months, as more and more customers rely on online apps and devices to complete everyday tasks. The company’s pivot into a digital solutions platform, while continuing to enhance its telco business, is being accelerated in part to meet this growing demand.

The company cited the growth of its data-related revenues, which reached a record high in 2021, as a key indicator of the growing demand for ICT services that enable customers’ daily experiences. Globe’s data traffic soared to 3,733 petabytes last year, a 48% rise from 2,517 petabytes in 2020. Globe’s mobile data, home broadband and corporate data revenues accounted for 80% of its total service revenues last year.

UK-based international research data and analytics group YouGov also found in its 2022 Global Media Outlook Report that in the last 12 months, “a higher proportion of all global consumers claimed to have increased their consumption of websites or apps, social media, and streaming video services than more traditional media such as TV or radio.”

“The media type showing the highest growth was online consumption of websites and apps, with 42% of global consumers claiming to have increased consumption in the last 12 months,” the report added.

Globe President and CEO Ernest Cu confirmed that the Philippine situation will closely mirror the global trend, saying the pandemic-induced shift to digital has spurred the company to work double-time on its move towards an even more diverse service platform.

“We have certainly gone beyond telco in terms of empowering the Filipino’s digital lifestyle. While we continue to build up our core business, we have developed a broad set of offerings in high-growth sectors such as health, fintech, e-learning, and entertainment among many others. These have all become essential services that our customers rely on day in and day out,” said Cu.

Cu cited mobile wallet GCash as an example of a digital payment and financial service that has become part of Filipinos’ daily routines. Its GLife service, for instance, puts together various merchants and brands into a single page so that users will not need to switch apps or create different accounts to order or shop online.

Globe’s HealthNow and KonsultaMD telemedicine services have also become invaluable tools during the pandemic, as they bring health and care to Filipinos through an easy-to-use app from the comfort and safety of home.

Online grocery shopping platform PureGo, a partnership between Globe and Puregold, is yet another online app that has quickly expanded to more cities in and around Metro Manila. PureGo registered a sales growth of over 75% in 2021.

Cu stressed the importance of continuing to innovate as customers’ needs quickly evolve, and of using Globe’s digital platform to build or develop more services that are designed to make life easier for Filipinos.