Globe Targets Growth Under New CEO Carl Cruz

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

Globe’s new president and CEO, Carl Raymond Cruz, is steering the company toward innovation, digital inclusion and customer-first thinking following what the firm calls a record year.

Cruz, Chief Financial Officer Carlo Puno and Chief Commercial Officer Darius Delgado met with media on April 22 after the company’s annual stockholders meeting in Makati City.

Cruz brings extensive leadership experience, having served as managing director of Unilever West Africa and executive at Airtel Nigeria before joining Globe as deputy CEO in October 2024.

He said Globe is in the best position to capture growth amid easing inflation and continued gross domestic product expansion.

He cited Globe Telecom and financial services platform GCash as the company’s dual growth engines.

“With the Philippines entering economic normalization and a growing digital-native population, Globe is well-positioned to lead the country’s digital progress,” Cruz said.

He emphasized inclusive growth by broadening access to technology and financial tools that improve daily life.

Globe posted PHP165 billion in gross service revenue in the fourth quarter of 2024, up 2 percent year over year, and maintained its mobile market lead with 60.9 million subscribers.

Its GFiber Prepaid broadband service recorded its first sequential revenue growth in 13 quarters, reaching 260,000 subscribers with a 74 percent quarter-on-quarter increase.

GCash now serves eight in 10 Filipinos and supports more than 6 million merchants and social sellers through payments, lending, insurance, and investment services.

Despite these gains, Cruz said Globe still has significant growth potential amid expanding digital access.

“Our ambition is to be the country’s most profitable, most admired and highly engaged telecom company,” Cruz said.

“Backed by purpose, technology and people, we are building a progressive, inclusive digital nation.”

Cruz acknowledged network reliability remains a top priority and committed to minimizing service disruptions.

In 2024, Globe built 1,212 new cell towers, upgraded 4,613 mobile sites, and installed 600 new cell sites in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas.

It also completed 587 new 5G installations, expanding 5G outdoor coverage to 98.69 percent in Metro Manila and 96.95 percent in key cities in Visayas and Mindanao.

“A key focus area is providing a best-in-class network experience,” Cruz said.

“Our customers won’t experience this if there are interruptions, so all hands are on deck to minimize disruptions, even those beyond our control.”

Delgado shared that Globe now uses predictive artificial intelligence for preventive network maintenance.

“The value is we can forecast outages a month in advance, allowing us to avert them proactively,” Delgado said.