Solid Group to inject funds in mobile phone unit

MANILA, Philippines—Following the sale of its broadband Internet and cable television business, listed firm Solid Group Inc. announced plans to accelerate investments in its growing mobile phone manufacturing operations.

The company said it was on track to doubling sales of its “budget-friendly” phone brand MyPhone to four million units to clinch the top spot in the low-end device segment.

“We will be number one by the end of the year. That’s not too bad for a brand that’s just four years old,” Solid Group president David Lim said in an interview.

Speaking on the sidelines of Solid Group’s annual shareholders’ meeting, he said the bulk of the proceeds from the sale of the company’s cable TV assets would be invested in its phone business.

Last year, revenue from mobile phone sales reached P3 billion, helping the company post a net profit of P430 million. This year, profit is expected to reach P850 million.

Solid Group earned about P1 billion from the sale of its cable and broadband business, which the company decided to divest from rather than get left behind by rivals with deeper pockets. “Rather than risking more money in another industry, we believed that focusing on just one business was more prudent,” Lim said.

“The P1 billion came at a very opportune time for us. We will be able to fund more comfortably into MyPhone,” he said.

The company said it would enter the low-end smartphone market this year through the introduction of eight new devices powered by Google’s Android operating system.

The MyPhone brand also plans to introduce the first Filipino-made tablet computer—dubbed as the MyPad—later this year.

Meanwhile, Lim said the company was also finalizing plans to expand its housing business through modular construction methods to be introduced under the brand “MyHouse.”

“We want MyHouse to be another success story like MyPhone. We want to provide very decent, affordable houses in the urban areas,” he said. Lim said the company would accelerate the expansion of its housing business once it gets the necessary government approvals to build.