Aug. 6--PHILIPPINE Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) said it is in talks with two satellite providers after its existing one filed for bankruptcy in the US.

"We need a satellite operator to reach our subscribers; otherwise we can't hit 99 percent of the subscribers," Napoleon Nazareno, PLDT president, said.

He said Mabuhay Satellite Corp.'s (MSC) Agila 2 satellite reaches its end-of-life sometime between 2010 and 2011. MSC is a PLDT subsidiary.

Earlier, PLDT said it paid $27.5 million for the use of C-band transponders on the ProtoStar 1 Satellite from 2011 to 2017. ProtoStar Satellite Systems Inc. and its affiliates ProtoStar I Ltd., ProStar II Ltd., ProtoStar Asia Pte. Ltd. each filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code.

On Tuesday, PLDT reported that its net income inched up two percent to P19.7 billion at end-June. In the second quarter alone, its earnings rose 15 percent to P10.14 billion from P8.8 billion last year

Manuel Pangilinan, PLDT chairman, had said the telecom company raised its core profit projection for this year to P41 billion from an earlier P40 billion.

He attributed the upward revision to the strong first half financial performance, continued growth in cellular and broadband businesses and the reduction of income taxes starting 2009.

He said the reported net income is "hard to predict" because of the foreign exchange movement, adding that if the exchange rate is more or less the same for the rest of the year "it is likely that the reported net income would exceed the P34.5 billion reported in 2008."

Pangilinan said that he expects the company's growth in the third quarter to slowdown because of weak consumer spending.

"The second half might slightly slower than the first half . . . Third quarter is historically the slowest quarter of the year," he said, adding that the early election spending would have a "leveling effect " on consumer spending to offset the weak third quarter growth.

BPL a medium-term project

Nazareno said PLDT's planned foray into broadband over power lines (BPL) and prepaid electricity metering would have to wait for at least two years.

This disclosure came several months after a high-stakes struggle with San Miguel Corp. for control over Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) owing to its potential for BPL.

Nazareno said Meralco is testing the BPL and prepaid electricity in Malabon area.

But PLDT's immediate priority is the co-location of facilities, joint pole agreements, use of e-Meralco's fiber optic backbone and cross-selling to subscriber bases, he said.