Melissa Vergel De Dios: And there was a question on the monetization of our data center.
Danny Yu: Yes. Just – I guess I can take that. As you said on the data center when you say – in terms of monetization of auto data center, we are exploring, looking for a partner to be – to bring in into ePLDT data center business only, maybe three factors. One is we believe if we can bring a partner, we can actually drive top line even more if we can be part of the platform of this partner that we are looking at. Second is to really improve also operations in terms of they were used to operating hyperscaler data centers. And that’s something we can learn from, be more efficient, and be more cost effective. And lastly, of course capital, as we continue to build out 12 and maybe in the future, 13 and 14. So, that’s something that I think we are able – we want to have a partner come in and address those three factors for us.
Hussaini Saifee: Sure. Thanks. I will get back into the queue. Thank you very much.
Melissa Vergel De Dios: Thanks Hussaini. Are there any questions from people who are here? There is a hand raised?
Unidentified Analyst: John Renz [ph], Security Bank. Did I expect any one-offs in the third quarter regarding this typhoon or this weather? That’s all for me.
Melissa Vergel De Dios: One-offs due to the typhoon?
Danny Yu: We actually don’t see any yet. I don’t think it’s going to be as bad as Odette, last year. So, there might be a few areas affected, but I think restoration is not as difficult as the one in Odette. Jeremiah, you want to add something?
Jeremiah de la Cruz: Just to add to that, I was actually spot on in terms of the number of households that have been impacted. So today, we currently have about 16,000 households that we are still in the middle of actually restoring services to. So, when you look at the size and the scale of that versus Odette or other calamities that we have had in the past, it’s significantly lower. So, this is something that we will do as a matter of, I guess a regular operation. We don’t necessarily see any large one-off costs associated with it.
Danny Yu: I just want to clarify something because earlier there was apparently a question whether there was or there are one-off items on the EBITDA. My answer is no. There is none. Because any one-off or non-recurring gain is shown after Telco Core income before reported net income.
Unidentified Analyst: Thank you.
Melissa Vergel De Dios: Any other questions from the floor? Place the mic in the middle. Thank you.
Unidentified Analyst: Hi, Steven here from China Bank Securities. I just wanted to ask if you could provide more color on the lower depreciation charges for the first half. And for my second question, is PLDT planning to venture into prepaid fiber similar to what competitor has been doing? Thank you.
Melissa Vergel De Dios: Why was there lower depreciation in the first half?
Danny Yu: Last year, we had an accelerated depreciation of certain assets such as like 3G, VVDSL, transport equipment, about PHP51 billion were written up in 2022. So, that had an impact on our depreciation this year.
Melissa Vergel De Dios: Under the prepaid fiber?
Jeremiah de la Cruz: Sure. Just in terms of prepaid fiber. So, we are looking at all of our options, and prepaid fiber includes one of them when it comes down to our fiber monetization strategy. As you know, we actually have a slightly different strategy to what our competition is doing. We currently sit at about the 60% port utilization level. Very, very different to what our competition is doing much significantly lower. So, one of the things we are doing in looking at prepaid is actually being very, very targeted in our approach to ensure that we are using the prepaid offering as something for – to better utilize in a specific area to ensure that we don’t necessarily drive further commoditization of the sector and that we are able to actually extract as much value from the existing assets that we have already put out there.
