PLDT Inc.

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm Jingay Nagralis, Head of Investor Relations here at PLDT, and it's my pleasure to welcome you to our first half financial and operating results briefing. Joining us today to share insights into PLDT's program next in strategic direction are PLDT Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Butch Jimenez, TLDP Financial Officer, Mr. Danny Yu. TLDP Corporate Secretary, Marilyn Victorino Aquino. TLDP Chief Legal Counsel, Attorney Joan Devenesha Cabral. TLDP Head of Consumer Home, Mr. John Palanca. TLDP Head of Enterprise, Blum Spinetta. PLDT President, D. Boy Henvino, and PLDT Treasurer, Leo Posadas. Later during the call, we will also be joined by Smart Communications Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Boy Margaris.

Go ahead, Daniel. Good afternoon, everyone. Allow me to present PLDT's first top 20 certified performance, covering key results and business highlights. Our service revenue's net of interconnection costs reach $97.1 billion. Our service revenue's net of interconnection costs reached $97.1 billion, a touch higher year-on-year. EBITDA came in at $55.5 billion, up 3% this year. EBITDA margin remains steady at 52%. This was supported by steady growth from our fiber and disciplined cost management. Cash OPEC subsidies provisioned $2.2 billion. reflecting continued spending discipline. Telco core income landed around 4%, managing higher depreciation and financing costs as investment in our network and infra to improve quality of service. Core income on the other hand reached 17.6 billion, up 1%, lifted by Maya's positive earnings. BLVP share in Maya's core earnings amounted to $406 million in the first half, its first profitable semester, marking a $1.1 billion turnaround from the $693 million lost last year. This strong result reflects continued growth in deposits, lending, and payments volume. In summary, we delivered stable core results and maintained a good margin. driven by careful cost management and ongoing revenue growth in key areas. PLDT service revenues remain stable, driven by sustained demand across key segments, mobile data, fiber, corporate data, and ICT. Starting with home, revenues grew 4% year-on-year, reaching $30.4 billion, led by strong steady fiber demand. Enterprise was slightly lower at $23.5 billion, down 1% due to continued declines in legacy of businesses. Positively, corporate data and ICT revenue sell steady despite last year's closure of Ogon Connectivity. Within these segments, ICT stands out, growing 15% from year-on-year to $3.2 billion. While our connectivity business is in transition, we continue to build a pipeline of new opportunities powered by human-led tech solutions. Turning to individual, revenues total 42.3 billion, slightly down in part due to weaker legacy offerings. Mobile adaptation to 37.4 billion, now making up 89% of the segment's revenues. We remain encouraged by the robust adoption of 5G and the continued increase in data usage, supporting future growth and better money. Overall, mobile data and fiber and corporate data ICT now represent 90% of our total revenues versus 88% last year, more than offsetting legacy declines. Exclusively, legacy services total net service revenues rose by three percent now let's take a closer look at the whole segment home revenues grew four percent year on year to 13.4 billion and by strong fiber demand fiber revenues reached 29.5 million up seven percent versus last year and now make up 97 percent of total home revenues Subscriber momentum remains strong, with 169,000 Net Fiber Ants in the first half, over three times higher than last year's 50,000 Net Ants. This growth reflects the impact of our accelerated Fort Roald Tau program. We continue to lead in ARPU and churn. ARPU held steady at 1,485 for the semester, the highest in the industry. Churn improved quarter on quarter a testament to network reliability and brand strength. Our bundle offerings also continue to resonate, where over 80% of new subscribers opted for higher price at $1,299 and above. These integrated broadband mobile and content bundles help drive customer stickiness and support revenues. Enterprise revenues for the first half reached $23.5 billion, slightly down by 1% from last year due to known headwinds. This includes the full impact of lost Pogo connectivity as well as slower public sector deal closures tied to the main elections and leadership changes in government agencies. We expect these delayed awards to be booked in the second half. Corporate data and ICT remain stable at $17.4 billion and now account for 74% of total enterprise revenues. ICT continues to be a bright spot with segment revenues up 15% year-on-year. Data center colocation grew by 36% while cybersecurity services expanded by 24%. Other growth areas include fiber up 4% year-on-year, SD-WAN up 19% as demand for secure, flexible enterprise connectivity continues to rise. We also saw meaningful traction from Asia Direct Cable, which supported high bandwidth deal closures with hyperscalers and carriers in the second quarter. While connectivity revenues are in transitional phase, our broader enterprise business remains resilient, supported by advanced digital solutions and a growing customer pipeline. In April, PLDT, through its data center ARM Vitro, inaugurated Vitro Santa Rosa, the country's first operational AI-ready hyperscale facility and the largest in our portfolio. This rated-free certified mega-facility delivers 50 megawatts of power capacity and houses over 4,500 trucks built to meet the stringent requirements of enterprises, and AI workloads. The facility now hosts live NVIDIA GPUs powering EPLDT's AI solutions, giving Philippine enterprises across to on-demand, high-performance AI computing without the heavy capital costs of building their own infra. As the country's first true AI enabler, BITRO offers low latency and the computing skills needed for enterprise to innovate and compete. Vitro continues to deliver strong growth with co-locations revenues up 36% in the first half, driven by a 19% increase in RAC deployments across our data center network. With Vitro Santa Rosa and our broader ecosystem, PLDT is building the intra-backbone to position the Philippines as a regional hub for digital services and AI innovation. Individual revenues reached 42.3 billion for the first sub, down 1% from last year, reflecting continued drag from legacy services and a softer second quarter. Mobile data revenues were stable, 37.4 billion, making up 89% of the segment. While Q2 was slightly slower, we continued to see healthy data usage and stickiness from our customer base. Our pool has remained broadly stable despite competitive pressures thanks to our hyper-personalized offers that match customer needs while helping us manage marketing costs more efficiently. Total mobile data traffic grew 5% year-on-year to 2,766 petabytes, supported by the continued rise in 5G adoption. 5G traffic surged 84% versus last year, and 5G latch devices now make up 17% of our base, up from 11% a year ago. This reflects network improvements and the impact of affordable 5G device offers. Another bright spot is fixed wireless. With the introduction of our new 5G modem, we saw revenues from the segment growing 12% year on year, driven by the strength and reliability of our 5G network, especially in areas where fiber is not yet available. We remain focused on giving customers the best experience, not only in network quality, but also in how we design products that match their preferences and needs. This approach allows us to maintain our book, spur demand, and increase loyalty. Innovations remain a key lever as we took shape the next phase of growth. To share more about our latest digital initiatives targeting younger Filipinos, I'd like to turn it over to our smart COO, Mr. Boy Martires.

Hi. After months of hard work by our internal teams and technology partners, it is my pleasure to present to you the first of a series of innovations that we've embarked on. Our next mobile service called KIPP. KIPP is the Philippines' first and only app-based mobile service that offers a personalized digital telco experience. KIPP is also one of the first in the world who offer such groundbreaking experience. King is our foe to the Gen Z market. The Gen Z, between 19 to 20 years old, is this young generation redefining how they live, share, and stay connected. They are disruptors, and we've seen their influence and power in the results of our latest Philippine elections. Their rebellious yet authentic nature, their ability to know exactly when to swipe left or to double tap, make up a generation that will never quit freedom and control. With this in mind, we have built Kik, a mobile experience that gives Gen Z complete freedom and flexibility to personalize and control their mobile journey on their own terms. With the Kik app, users can build their own plan, choose their own data allocation, choose their call and text inclusions, choose their numbers, choose their validity period, and more. unlocking a very personalized experience for Gen Z's. It's my pride to show you our television commercial that was launched last Sunday.

Rules? We make them.

Limits? We go beyond them. One size fits all? Thank you.

There will be more innovations that we will be introducing. In fact, the ink hasn't even dried up on this innovation that we launched last Sunday. We'll be launching another one this coming Monday.

So stay tuned. Thanks, Boyd. As we continue to innovate on the product side, we're also staying focused on disciplined cost management. Now let me walk you through our operating expenses. Total cash open subsidies and provisions for the first half came in at 41.6 billion, down 1.4 billion, or 3%, from the same period last year. Grading it down, compensation and benefits excluding MRP declined by 900 million, or 8%, helped by ongoing right-sizing efforts. Selling and promotions were down 22%, reflecting better campaign targeting and improved spend efficiency. Subsidies fell 21%, mainly due to lower device issuance and better control on subsidy per unit. On the other hand, repairs and maintenance rose by 4% to $15.6 billion, driven by network expansion and new site rollouts. Overall, the 3% year-on-year reduction in cash operating expenses highlights our ongoing efforts to optimize spend while ensuring support for growth. areas like fiber, mobile data, enterprise ICT, and digital innovations. For the first half, consolidated EBITDA reached 55.5 billion, up 3% year-on-year, despite flattish top-line growth and known headwinds. This reflects the resilience of our business model, with earnings supported by a stronger mix of fiber, ICT, and personalized mobile offers. This growth was driven mainly by lower OPEX, with total cash OPEX down by 1.4 billion or 3% year-on-year. Our EBITDA margin held steady at 52%, underscoring our ability to defend profitability in a competitive market. This stability gives us a strong platform heading into the second half, where we expect additional upside from enterprise deal closures and traction from new product launches. Telco core income for the first half came in at $17.2 million, slightly lower year-on-year as higher depreciation and financing costs weighed on the results. That said, a clear bright spot is Maya, which delivered $406 million in core income, its first profitable semester, and had a meaningful turnaround from a loss last year. Maya has now cemented its position as the largest digital bank and merchant acquirer in the country. Its GameE5 all-in-one ecosystem continues to attract, retain, grow users, creating a profitable and sustainable financial platform that is now materially contributing to PLDT's core income now and moving forward. Including Maya's contribution, Consolidated core income rose to $17.6 billion up 1% versus the same period last year. Reported income was slightly lower at $18.1 billion, mainly reflecting lower net forex and derivative gains. We'll share more on minus performance and growth momentum in a dedicated section later in this presentation. Now let's move on to CapEx and our debt profile. CapEx for the first half of 2025 stood at $27.4 million. We're now guiding full-year CapEx of about $63 million, lower than our original guidance of $68 to $73 million. This reduction is not due to scaling back our efforts, but rather the result of more favorable pricing and negotiated terms with vendors and suppliers. We remain focused on network quality and expansion with continued momentum in new site rollouts, LTE and 5G upgrades, fiber port builds, and investment in submarine cables and AI infrastructure. We're also investing in AI-ready data center and upgrades that improve service quality and long-term efficiency. Profits intensity for the first half declined to 26%, in line with our plan to bring down the ratio down and support stronger free cash flow. As of end of June, our net debt stood at $282.6 billion, with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.57 times. Our interest cover remains healthy at 3.52 times, giving us ample headroom to manage debt service. We've continued to manage maturities proactively, with 55% of our debt maturing beyond 2030 and only 5% maturing in 2025. U.S. dollar denominated debt is modest at 13%, with only 5% unhedged. Our overall debt portfolio remains diversified, with a balanced mix of fixed and floating rates and an average tenor of 6.4 years. We remain investment-grade rated by both S&P and Moody's, underscoring confidence in our fundamentals and risk profile. We maintain our guidance of returning to positive free cash flow by 2026 and are working toward our target net debt to EBITDA ratio of 2.0 times over a medium term. The Board declared an interim cash dividend of $48. pesos per share earlier today in line with our regular payout policy of 60% of TelcoCore income. This corresponds to a TelcoCore earnings per share of 80 pesos for the first half and reflects our commitment to stabilize shareholders' return while managing leverage. Based on PLVT's closing share price as of June 30, the 12-month trailing yield stands at about 8%. Now let me discuss Maya, the number one fintech ecosystem in the Philippines, comprising of Maya, the leading digital bank, and Maya Philippines, the top omnichannel payment processor. What makes Maya unique? It is a fully integrated platform that unites digital payments, banking, and lending for both consumer and businesses. This creates a powerful flywheel More users drive more transactions, generating richer insights, enabling better product adoption, and ultimately delivering scale and profitability. These strong networks' effects are firmly established across both consumer and business segments.

Next.

Maya remains the Philippines' number one digital bank and leading payment processor in fundraising and QR merchant payments. As of June 2025, Maya had 8.2 million customers, 2.1 million borrowers, 50.4 billion in deposit, and 150 billion in total loans disbursed since inception. In 2Q of 2025, Maya posted its second consecutive quarter of sustainable profitability with $582 million in net income, a growth of 60% over the first quarter of 2025. Now let me now break down Maya's banking performance. Maya's deposit rose to $50.4 billion by end of June, up 54% year-on-year, showing sustained growth and stronger customer trust. Loan disbursement hit $32 billion in Q2, up 147% year-on-year, bringing total life-to-date disbursal to $152 billion across consumer loans, MSME loans, and partner-led loan channeling. Outstanding loans viewed to $25 billion, raising LDR to 49%, and boosting net interest margin to 20.2%. NPL inch up to 5.2% with new products and services, but these remain healthy. Maya also expected to stabilize as the portfolio matures. In summary, Maya is unlocking the full value of its platform by linking consumer and merchant ecosystems. Maya recently launched the Maya Black Credit Card, a premium lifestyle card, and the Maya Black Preferred Rewards Program, giving cardholders up to 10 times rewards within the ecosystem. Maya remains the only digital bank in the Philippines issuing credit cards, with over 230,000 issued since August 2024, many to first-time users. Maya is also expanding credit access to partners like Pepsi, Tala, OneHand. It has four strategic alliance such as the Lunders Co-branded Card and Pulse Mabuhay Miles Integration. With its ecosystem firing all cylinders, Maya is setting the pace for future of digital finance in the Philippines. Now allow me to cite a few sustainability highlights during the partner. PLVT and SMART signed agreements with Empower to source additional renewable energy for operations. This will result not only in cost savings, but also support our decarbonization roadmap. PLVT's progress in the area of sustainability is manifested in several recognitions. PLVT was again included in the FTSE Good Index, where our score was higher than the telecom industry, the mobile sub-sector, and country averages. Its $2 billion social loan was cited as the Social Infra Deal of the Year by the ASEP in 2025 in the Asian region category. During the quarter, PLDT submitted its communication on progress, which affirmed its commitment to the United Nations Global Compact's Ten Principles on Human Rights, Labor, Environment, and anti-corruption. The PLET team was named the overall winner of the UNGC Innovation Accelerator for Young Professionals and will be the Philippine submission to the UNGC Leaders Summit in New York from September. More details of our initiatives can be found in the Sustainability section of this presentation. Now, that concludes our prepared remarks for the first half of 2025. We appreciate your continued interest and support, and we'll be happy to open the floor for your questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Danny and Boy, and for all the valuable insights and growth initiatives, as well as key developments that you've shared across our business units. As you've seen today, despite some near-term challenges, we remain confident in our market position, supported by our strong operational fundamentals, strategic investments in digital infrastructure, and promising growth in Maya. Now, we'd like to open the floor to your questions. You may submit your questions by the Q&A panel, or if you wish, you may also raise your hand as well, and you can unmute your mic. Looks like we have Arthur Pineda of Citi with a question here. Go ahead, Arthur. I'll unmute you right now.

Hi, thanks for the opportunity. Yeah, two questions, please. Firstly, on mobile, I'm just wondering what's driving the softness in service? Sorry, can you hear me?

The volume here in the room, if you could just wait one moment.

Is this better? Yes, we can hear you a little bit better.

Okay. Sorry, yeah, two questions, please. Firstly, on Mobons, wondering what's driving the softness in trends for wireless revenues? I mean, you look at the revenues down, and it's down slightly on a Q&Q basis, but 1Q was saddled with a lot of work and school outages. Why aren't we seeing the uplift in revenues and any guidance into the third quarter with regard to these trends? Second question I had is with regard to regulation. Can we get an update on the Tonectatum Plenary Bill? Is there a deadline for the president to sign this or amend or return to Congress? How do you see this as playing out? Thank you.

Thank you, Arthur. I guess we can take the first question on mobile.

Arthur, may I just ask you to speak a little bit slowly so I can get the first part of your question? No.

It's about the softness in mobile, mobile trends. So quarter to quarter, it looks like there was some softness. First quarter did have some challenges regarding mobility. So he was asking if you had similar effects and also your outlook for the third quarter.

Okay, thank you. Thank you. Well, the dip is a normal fluctuation. We see that as normal fluctuation, and we expect it to go right back up. And more importantly, in the second half, where our elevations sit, have a better outlook in the second half. And I guess that just outlines our view. The first time we met, Arthur, I remember you asked me what I would do differently. The most important thing that I'd like to outline here is although Smart is a tech company, we are also a consumer-centric company. And as a consumer-centric company, we aim to therefore delight the customer. Delighting the customer is based on the innovations that we have. And the innovations, each innovation is going to deliver value for money. That value for money is going to be the driver of how we will get the revenues up and how we will do market repair.

Thank you, Sir Boy. For the second question, I'm connected in Pinoy.

Hello, Sarah.

Sure, sir. the first question is when will it become a law, right?

Any deadline for the president?

Any deadline. Well, by August 24, if the president does not veto the law, the bill, it will become a law by the passage of time. And what's the other question?

That's it.

Okay. Do you have any follow-up questions on Conectado de Pinoy, Arthur, or just the deadline?

I'm just wondering how you see this. Will there be any amendments which could take place? Do you just see this as passing through to law? Or do you think it's likely going to stall?

Well, our hope is the President will return this, will veto the law and allow the Congress to enact a law, enact a bill that will replace it in consultation with stakeholders, including the Telcos. And we were... heartened by the fact that the Office of the Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs sent a letter to SMART requesting the opinion or the position of SMART with respect to the bill, whether or not the President should veto the bill or approve the bill and sign it into law. But up to now, we don't know what will be the end position in this matter. But if in the event that the president signs it into law, allows it to lapse into law, then we have to assert our right and our issues and bring our issues before the Supreme Court. We believe that there are several unconstitutional issues that's contained in the bill, including the discriminatory treatment in favor of data transmission providers and satellite providers because the bill allows data transmission providers and satellite providers to use spectrum without any franchise. And in that respect, the bill is also unconstitutional because it contains more than one subject. The rule in the bill isn't. in most democratic countries is a bill can only contain one subject. This bill contains three subjects. One, open access. Number two, spectrum, allocation of spectrum and recall of spectrum. And third, enjoyment of spectrum and operating without a franchise. So we will raise those issues. But the most important point in this is The bill goes against what the world basically has implemented as open access. The standard for open access for the ability of data transmission providers to access the assets of telcos is very broad. As long as it's necessary, then they will have the right to access. Whereas open access has adapted. In other countries, a very strict standard, which is the asset must be indispensable and must be essential for the provisional services of the data transmission providers. It's like, I liken it to a right-of-way. If there is, if the access to the asset is necessary, is a necessary right-of-way for the provision of the services, then so, then that is a fair access. But if it is an access which allows them to have basically access to all our assets and basically they can conduct a business without building their own infrastructure, then that's almost confiscatory because our assets are being accessed and the law is requiring us to provide access to our assets that will be used by a private sector. It's not even for public use. So in that score, it is confiscatory, and we're not even allowed to basically negotiate the terms of the access. And when you have that situation, when the law was intended to provide for the additional build of infrastructure in the Philippines for data transmission providers, but the law imposed an obligation to build infrastructure on the data transmission providers. Instead, they are given the right to access all our assets. So it's like a freeloader situation, no? And when that happens, who will suffer? Our subscribers will suffer, and there will be a disincentive to build because you know how expensive it is to build. But as we build, we are not given the assurance that we will have exclusively a use of the assets that we're building. And the signal of the law is the data transmission providers will have access over the assets that we will build. So it's a disincentive to build further to improve the infrastructure of telcos in the Philippines. And the other most important point here is Under the Constitution, the state has the ability, has the power and the right to take over facilities of entities of businesses that are engaged in public utilities or whose businesses are imbued with public or national interest. That one will not be available for satellite providers because the bill allows satellite providers to get a spectrum and to operate without any franchise. So, satellite providers are physically outside of the physical jurisdiction of the Philippine government. And so, in our case, if the Philippine government needs our assets, needs to take over our operations in order to ensure a ensure that national security is protected, for example, without some communication, they can just knock on our doors and send the police and take over. In the case of satellite providers that are given spectrum and are operating without any franchise from the government, that's not possible. And that is depriving the state of the power to protect itself. So those are some of the unconstitutional points that We will raise if the bill is passed into law.

Understood. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Attorney Mava. We have another question here from Amwell of Metro Bank. Can you share some guidance regarding what we can expect from refinancing activities for the maturing debt? Do we expect any upticks in our rates? Perhaps Leo or Treasurer can take this.

Hi, thank you for the question. So currently interest rates are still at high levels compared to a few years back when we appealed to our maturing debts. So as an indication, as of June, the cost of our debt is approximately now 5%. Now, admittedly, as we recognize that the interest rates are high, still at higher levels right now than benchmark rates, But what we have done is that we've negotiated for the spreads to contract a bit. So from a high, let's say, 75 to 100 basis points to today's 4 to 60 basis points. Now, aside from that, in order to address also the high interest rate environment, we are borrowing longer facilities with floating rate structure right at the shorter end of the curve. Now, this is also to take advantage of declining interest rates following the easing of central banks. So while they may be a little bit higher now, there is potential in the way we structured our refinancing facilities, floating rates to the shorter end, that will give us the ability to also enjoy as interest rates go down.

Thank you, Leo. All right. Another question that we have here is in regards to our 5G cities. Any updates on 5G cities after the successful launch in BGC? Are there additional cities slated for this, and what can we expect in this time of year?

Oh, yes. Glad you answered that. Following the success that we have on 5G cities, we have decided to start to propagate them in the provinces. So we have selected... Even, you know, the queen city of the South. That's the first beneficiary of that. We're putting 5G and we're testing it there. And so far, I'm glad to announce that there's been some good acceptance, particularly with respect to the fact that we started that with a sunsetting of our 3G spectrum.

And as a follow-up to that, since we are talking about 5G, are there any measurable uplifts in terms of ARPU for these 5G cities, also from 5G users moving up from LTE?

Thank you again for the question. Short answer, ARPU 5G is 300 pesos. The ARPU LTE is 101 pesos. So definitely be assured that there will be a revenue lift. And we're very, very focused in really implementing our 5G network.

Thank you, Sir Boyd. This next question I got from quite a number of investors. This is in regards to our asset monetization plans. Are there any updates on the data center sale as well as asset sales on top of the data center?

Okay. On the data center, we continue to receive inquiries from interested parties, and we also consider other options for the data center. So until we have finalized, we really advise you once we have finalized those deals.

And in regards to copper?

Yeah, I already mentioned that one.

Okay. So for copper, we will announce. So it's an ongoing project.

It needs to be one of the priorities. Maybe I can give them an update on the asset monetization program on our legacy assets. We've created a robust program to be able to monetize all our legacy assets. We're beginning with our copper. That is now under negotiations. And so I don't think I can disclose anything. generally the price and how much we're going to get. But suffice it to say that we believe that we will get a substantial amount for our copper. But over and above that, there is a full program on being able to monetize our other legacy assets. For example, we are starting to shut down 3G. There will be a lot of equipment that is related to 3G, which we will also now start to monetize. And then eventually all our other legacy assets we will start to monetize. So we have a program for that whole ecosystem of monetizing legacy assets.

Thank you, Butch. This next question is for home business. This is in regards to prepaid. So it looks like there was some uplift in the press release regarding take-up on prepaid. Can you give us more color on your plans and how this fits in your portfolio?

Thank you. Well, prepaid is our strategic entry point. of price-sensitive households, as well as first-time fiber users. We do not see prepaid as cannibalizing postpaid. An emerging customer base is there for those households that are hesitant to a monthly commitment or never tried fiber and are still using older or slower technologies. Prepaid is the perfect way to onboard And our growth driver in the next six months of the year will come from these emerging, well, it will come from two places. It's from deepening our penetration in areas where we have coverage. And secondly, it's entering into these emerging markets consisting of price-sensitive households as well as pipeline fiber users.

Thank you, John.

Thank you.

I'd also like to recognize the presence of our chairman and CEO, Mr. Manny V. Pangilina. So if you have any questions, please feel free to put them through the queue, through the Q&A box here in the team's meeting. Also, you may send it to me via Viber, or you may raise your hand as well. This next question is for enterprise. Enterprise revenues declined 1% year-on-year. That's despite the 15% growth in ICT. You mentioned that there were some delays due to the elections and the pogos. Do you anticipate return to growth overall in the second half?

Yes, thanks for the question. Yes, there were definitely on the public sector side, especially as you can imagine in local governments, some of those deals were sliding because of the May elections and then waiting for any new elected officials to be announced. And on the national government agency as well, as you will remember, there was a loyalty check, etc. So while we had some close deals substantially on the national government agency side in the first half. Some of them did slide. I think it was reported in the news that PLDP won an award for the Emergency 911 Services National Program announced by the President in the sauna. So we're waiting for the notice to proceed on that, but we're pleased. I think that's a marker of things to come on that sector. Similarly with private sector, same thing. I think so we're putting hard on these things and hoping that it will impact ourselves positively in the second half.

Thank you, Blanc. And as a follow-up to that, regarding the new services from PSR, regarding GPU as a service, any color regarding how early demand is shaping up?

Thank you for that question. Vito Santa Rosa remains the premier data center hub of the Philippines today, a five-hectare site, 50 megawatts in terms of capacity, 4,500 racks, and it is the only AI-ready data center in the Philippines today. We are taking full advantage of that. We are the first company in the Philippines to actually bring in NVIDIA GPU servers, and this is meant to address the growing AI demand that we see in the enterprise space today. Customers now are moving from use cases to actual deployment of AI, and we are capitalizing on that demand that's coming in. So we're happy to be the digital info provider for AI in the Philippines today.

Thank you, Deepoy. Also, I'd like to let everyone know that we also have Ayush Jhunjhunwala of Maya. He is the CIO of Maya, so if there are any Maya-related questions from the group, you may also pose those questions here. Again, if there are any questions, you may post them in the Q&A box, or you may raise your hand. It looks like we have a question from Derek of CLSA. Go ahead, Derek.

Hi, thanks everyone for the call. So I do have questions on Maya. I noticed that NIMS increased to 20%. Is it fair to say that the credit card rates have been driving this improvement? And if that's the case, is it also driving the uptick in MPLs for the period? And what could be the normalized MPLs? Then still in Maya, is it possible for you to share the split in net income between banking and merchant acquiring?

Hi, Derek.

Thanks for those questions. So, partly correct. You know, the overall growth in NIMS has not just been because of increasing NIMS for credit card. Of course, that's a factor. You know, we have launched credit card very recently. We have scaled up personal loans, which was launched late last year. So, the continued growth of these two businesses, in particular, as they're longer-tenured products, You know, we'll continue to have some near-term adverse impact on NPLs, but we expect those to stabilize relatively quickly. I think NIMs, you know, continue to increase as we increased, you know, our LDRs, and we'll continue to drive those up. So, LDRs are driving up, individual product NIMs are improving, and so these two factors are going to continue to drive the NIMs up. I think for NPLs, you know, we continue, if you see, you know, we're quite focused on managing the risk of the business, risk of the portfolio. You know, we take great measures in making sure that the risk profile is acceptable. And so you can see that, you know, NIMS have only inched up slightly. And I think we should expect these levels, you know, maybe marginally up from these levels. But within the year or so, it should start to stabilize a bit more. So that's what, you know, I can sort of talk about NIMS and NPLs. I don't think we can split out at this stage much more on the, you know, the P&Ls. But, you know, you do get to see, you know, more robust financials in the Maya Bank, which we should come out soon. And so, you know, it's effectively, we do announce, we do release the consolidated net income. And so you'll be able to see the difference between the two businesses. Just to remind you that the payments business is not just acquiring. It includes all payment related services. So that will include acquiring, which is obviously one of the largest business, but also consumer payments, you know, which is consumer wallet and any other transactional revenue on the wallet. Thank you.

Thank you, Ayush. We have a question from Ziwei of Macquarie. Is there going to be any guidance on revenue and margins for the second half of 2025?

Guidance on the revenues? Another picture.

Or perhaps you can share something else, perhaps maybe on core income?

We're still trying to get the core income of last year, but we're slightly behind right now, but we're trying to get the core income that we had last year.

we will be able to provide more than that at this time as we continue to navigate the business. But we do wish to maintain our profitability, of course, and then hopefully shoot for a higher rate. Okay. Any other questions for the group as well as for Maya? This question here is for home regarding innovation. So there are some innovations coming from the mobile side of things. Can you talk about innovations that you are pursuing for the home fiber business?

Thank you, Gina. Yes, we have been looking at a lot of, I guess, value-added content. But the initial mission for innovation is to make PLDT the digital hub of every home so what does that mean so aside from connectivity we are looking at we already have partnered with the big names in entertainment like netflix max we've partnered with smart home vendors like tp link and infi very soon we will be partnering with a big name in the electronic gaming industry and esports and console gaming And that will be launched very shortly. We are also looking at partnering with M-Well in order to provide health from the home. So these are the few things. We are the smart home and IoT platform for every home to ensure that we are able to provide this integrated service to the home. Furthermore, there is still a market for connectivity And you will be seeing in the market very soon a no-frills brand that we have launched. This should also help bring in a break into the emerging markets. And we hope to capture this incrementally. Again, we do not see these emerging markets of price-sensitive households or first-time users to cannibalize post-paid. Our post-paid proposition remains very strong. our ARPU has held up despite the fact that we have entered these markets beginning in the last quarter of last year and booming in the first and second quarter of this year. So this is a very strong indication that even lower ARPU subscribers, once they're in and they determine their data usage, do tend to come back and upgrade their subscriptions to faster speeds or add more content, which is helping us preserve our our art pool. So in short, I guess that being said, it's very important that making the home, each and every home in the Philippines a digital hub for PLGT is our mission. And we intend to do that through IOP, through smart home, through entertainment and health, among other things. Thank you.

Thank you, John. We have a question here for Maya from Nikki. Is there a target or optimal loan-to-deposit ratio for Maya Bank? And second question, any plans for further capital raising or perhaps even an IPO? What's the timeline looking for that?

I think for the loan to deposit ratio, we are still reasonably below the industry standards. So we'll continue to drive those up. I don't think we have a very fixed target at this point in time, but we are still, you know, less than 50%. So there is ample room to continue to grow. We also have an ability to dial up or dial down the deposit growth, you know, and so, you know, it really depends on the scaling of the lending book that will enable us to maintain healthy LDR ratios. I think in terms of capital raise, you know, slash IPO, I mean, we at the company continue to remain focused on scaling the business. You know, we are solidly cash flow generative. We are profitable. So we don't need to raise external capital to continue to drive growth. And so that's a good thing. And I think, you know, as long as you know, as far as any IPO or any other strategic alternatives are concerned, I think we'll let the shareholders decide and take appropriate action at the right time.

Thank you, Ayush. Okay, looks like we have just a minute or so left. There are some questions here in the queue. This is a question from Ziwei on Maya. So how do you see loan disbursement continuing to grow in the second half of 2025? You're tracking about the same amount of loans made with GCash in the second quarter. Maya $32 billion, GCash $34 billion. Curious to understand where you're driving the loan growth from and whether you are in direct competition with the same market as GCash.

Yeah, you know, we have a very strong suite of products that we offer now between both consumer and businesses, you know, starting with Amaya Easy Credit, which favors a consumer who has never taken a loan before. So first to credit customers, you know, these are very short-term, small-ticket loans. Then we have personal loans where we graduate consumers for, you know, longer duration, larger ticket sizes. We have just launched a credit card. We launched a Landers credit card last year, and we've just launched our own self-branded credit card last week. So it's a very robust set of products, credit products for the consumers. And similarly, we have a working capital product for businesses, both for fixed duration as well as for installment loan. So there is no one particular product that is driving all the disbursal, um it is um it's a fairly diversified book uh it's a fairly diversified uh dispersals and we'll continue to see escalation um you know across the board and growth across the across the board we do focus uh you know just in terms of our customer segmentation we do focus on mass affluent uh and above customers you know we have a very very millennials gen z uh focused customer base And so that's our continued focus. There are many, many products that we offer. We are the only ones, for example, amongst the digital banks or lenders who have a credit card. So we do continue to differentiate and offer products suitable to our customer base.

Thank you, Ayush. Okay, it looks like that's about all the time that we have for today. So that concludes today's briefing, and I'd like to thank everybody for their time and continued support of PLDT. But before we end the meeting, perhaps I'd like to invite our chairman and VP, if he has any closing remarks.

Thank you for joining us this afternoon. When do we announce it? It's September, right? So we should see In November.

Thank you, everyone. If there are any other questions that you weren't able to answer today, please feel free to send them over. I'd be happy to get to you by email. Thank you. Have a great day. Bye.

Thank you, everyone.