the Outsider - PSE Points to Ponder

  In Philippine telecoms, the contest between Manny Pangilinan’s PLDT and the Ayalas’ Globe is no longer only about whose network is faster, whose fiber reaches farther, or whose mobile brand occupies more Filipino pockets. It is increasingly a quieter struggle: who can carry the heavy debt of the 5G and fiber era with less strain? The first-quarter 2026 numbers show two giants trying to normalize after years of capital intensity. PLDT remains the larger machine, with ₱56.5bn in revenues and ₱28.3bn in EBITDA , against Globe’s ₱45.7bn in revenues and ₱22.2bn in EBITDA . Yet size is not the same as comfort. PLDT’s earnings engine is bigger, but its leverage and liquidity metrics look more stretched. Globe, smaller but nimbler, presents the cleaner deleveraging story. PLDT’s advantage is obvious at first glance. Its EBITDA base of ₱28.3bn in the first quarter exceeded Globe’s ₱22.2bn , giving Pangilinan’s group a broader cash-profit cushion to absorb interest, lease, depreciation,...

In the Philippine telecom market, the contest for investors’ loyalty has long been measured in signal strength, subscriber counts, and fiber kilometers. But in 2026, another battlefield is taking shape: the dividend crown . On one side stands Manuel V. Pangilinan , the “MVP” of Philippine corporate life, whose PLDT Inc. remains the country’s telecom cash machine—large, entrenched, and disciplined in its dividend framework. On the other hand is Dennis Anthony Uy of Converge ICT Solutions Inc., whose younger fiber challenger is beginning to look less like a growth-only broadband insurgent and more like a credible dividend-growth story. Their first-quarter 2026 results tell a nuanced story. PLDT looks better equipped to defend its dividend. Converge looks better placed to grow one. PLDT: The incumbent with the cash engine PLDT’s first-quarter numbers still carry the heft of an incumbent. Revenue rose 2% year-on-year to ₱56.5 billion , while EBITDA increased 2% to ₱28.3 billion , with EBI...

  For years, PLDT was treated by income investors as something close to a utility with a generous cheque attached. Its networks carried calls, data, and broadband traffic; its shares carried the promise of yield. But the first quarter of 2026 suggests that Manny V. Pangilinan’s telecoms flagship is entering a more austere dividend age: not one of abrupt retreat, but of careful, deliberate trimming. The evidence is hiding in plain sight. PLDT declared a regular common dividend of ₱46 per share for the first quarter of 2026, down from ₱47 per share a year earlier. The decline is only one peso, hardly dramatic. Yet it matters because it confirms the direction of policy. PLDT’s dividend is not being abandoned; it is being rationed. The company’s own numbers explain why. PLDT reported telco core income of ₱8.58 billion in the first quarter, down 2% from ₱8.78 billion in the same period last year. This is the critical measure. Since 2019, PLDT has based its regular dividend payout o...