Melissa Vergel De Dios: Thanks Jeremiah. Any other questions on the floor? We will entertain questions that are e-mailed. This one is from Arthur Pineda of Citi. What is driving the reduction in revenue and EBITDA guidance for the year? I guess it’s similar to what Hussaini asked that the initial guidance for the year set out at mid-levels and then our updated guidance is on low-single digit.
Shailesh Baidwan: So, the guidance for growth of revenue and EBITDA, similar to the first semester, the bottom line is higher.
Melissa Vergel De Dios: Then the second question from Arthur. Fiber broadband net adds remain relatively soft. How do you see this as changing into the second half? Are you seeing your competitors gain from prepaid fiber?
Jeremiah de la Cruz: Okay. Thanks for the question, it was Arthur, I think, am I right?
Melissa Vergel De Dios: Yes. It was.
Jeremiah de la Cruz: So, our focus in the first half has really been around sweating our assets. We have 6.1 million ports, and we have been very much focused in monetizing as much of that as we possibly can. That’s seen us take two approaches. Number one is switching. So, really looking at how do we have compelling switching plans for our customers so that they move over from our competition. And the second one is also looking at prepaid fiber. So, we are looking at prepaid fiber as an alternative and a way for us to be able to help drive improvement in net adds moving forward. In terms of, are we seeing any impact from competition with regards to prepaid fiber? Competition has also been very, very selective with their prepaid fiber offering.
So, it’s not something that they have been offering nationally. From what we have seen on the ground they have been very, very selective in the areas that they do offer prepaid as well, and they have been very, very targeted, prominently targeted at areas where they have capacity. Now, they have – admittedly, they have actually a lot more capacity than PLDT because we are – they are currently sitting on average about 20% and we are sitting at about the 60% level. So, whilst we will be venturing into the prepaid space, we are just looking very selectively at these particular areas.
Melissa Vergel De Dios: The next question from Arthur. Voyager’s loss has narrowed further quarter-on-quarter. I guess it’s similar to the earlier question. What are your expectations on the timing for profitability and what milestones need to be achieved?
Shailesh Baidwan: Yes. As I have mentioned, all the businesses are now segment EBITDA positive. So, we are now trying to make sure that the whole company is EBITDA positive, which as I mentioned, in the second half of 2024, we will get there as we continue to launch and scale up new products with high margins, especially products like lending, as we expand into other segments. At this stage, the loan book is growing. But as we can see, the deposits are – have grown very fast. The good news is these customers are transacting, so they are giving us a lot of rich data on them, which helps us in our credit scoring model in turn to start lending to them. So, that’s one part. And the second is by helping to grow the deposit base, it continues to provide us with a very healthy cost of fund base on which as we grow the lending book over the period of the next 12 months, that helps us the balance sheet that we need. So, that is the plan in the second half 2024.
Melissa Vergel De Dios: Thanks SB. And his final question. How should we look at the manpower related charges – reduction charges into the second half? This has actually declined quarter-on-quarter. Is this done and dusted or are there still more in the second half of ‘23?
