PLDT grapples with fallout of missing millions

12/21/2022

One telco that could use a Christmas miracle this season is Philippine service provider PLDT. The company's stock dropped dramatically - around 19% on Monday (December 19) - after news that there's $866 million in unaccounted capital spending.

Long-time contributing editor Robert Clark joins the podcast to spill the tea about the missing funds and why a massive downturn in PLDT's stock has investors' heads spinning.

"[PLDT] also faces an investigation into possible insider trading after a week of stock sell-offs ahead of the disclosure at the end of trading Friday," December 16, reported Robert. In addition, several senior executives have been suspended over the unreported spending, he explained.

You can download a lightly edited transcript of the podcast here.

Here are a few topics we covered:

Background on Robert Clark's role at Light Reading and his journalism career (00:36)
Philippine service provider PLDT misplaces $866 million in capital spending (03:59)
No clear answer yet as to what happened to the missing millions (07:19)
Why it's rare for a company like PLDT to slip 19% on the stock market in one day (08:35)
Other potential reasons behind the stock drop, such as insider trading (08:57)
Updates on 5G developments in the AsiaPac region (13:01)
How 5G is impacting service providers' operations (16:54)
Whether 5G has had an impact on the growth of virtual payment systems (18:17)
How the emergence of new operators in AsiaPac coincides with 5G deployments (20:47)
Huawei and ZTE have "made out like bandits for the past three, four years in their home market," said Robert (24:51)

Related stories and links:

— Kelsey Kusterer Ziser, Senior Editor, Light Reading

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