Liberty breaks records amid pandemic

During the April to June quarter in Liberty Puerto Rico “We saw the change that many consumers are moving to have fixed broadband internet service at home. It has become a necessity, ”said Naji Khoury, chief executive officer (CEO) and president of the telecommunications provider.

“It has been amazing how and how quickly we have adapted,” said the executive, referring to both his team and the clients who have made their adjustments so that the home, in addition to being a space for entertainment and rest, became a school, university and office through internet access.

Khoury made the expressions when talking to Business about the financial results of the parent Liberty Latin America (LLA), in which the Puerto Rico business unit was highlighted for entering $ 109 million, 4.3% more than in the previous quarter and 5.1% above the same average in the same period last year.

In turn, LLA CEO Balan Nair highlighted that Liberty Puerto Rico broke the record for new revenue generating units (RGUs) by adding 34,000 new service units. It also added 5,000 new homes during the pandemic-dominated quarter of the COVID-19.

“The increase in users is what we typically see in a whole year and we achieved it in a couple of weeks to a month,” Khoury contextualized.

These activations also meant that the work plan that is planned 9 to 12 months in advance was accelerated in all areas, from customer service to facilities and network development. “We grew 25% capacity in a few weeks,” he added of the 1,300 Gpbs increase in its core network, which was made necessary to absorb a nearly 50% increase in data consumption by customers.

Queen Netlflix in consumption

Specifically, average household use shot up to almost 400GB in April, 45% above pre-quarantine consumption. This represents 20 times the volume of data used in a home that depends on 20GB per month of mobile internet.

Khoury indicated that of that 400GB average, 40% was consumed in video streaming. The tools that lead consumption are Netflix, with 28%, and YouTube, with 12%.

Regarding the movement of more consumers towards the fixed internet, Khoury stated that beyond benefiting the company “this is good news for Puerto Rico, where broadband penetration is low compared to markets of its size and in other advanced economies “

Khoury pointed out that the financial results also allow it to grow its workforce of 900 employees.

“We are hiring in various areas, managerial, technical, in finance,” he announced of the 20 to 25 positions that they seek to fill immediately. “I am very optimistic about the future.”

Immediately, that future includes increasing the deployment of fiber optics for home customers. Although he declined to offer concrete figures on how many homes would be available by the end of the year, because at Liberty “we do not make these future plans public,” he did indicate that to date they have deployed fiber to “tens of thousands of houses on any island, be it Lares. , Bayamón or Humacao ”.

Safe to merge with AT&T

Along with this plan, the closing of the acquisition of AT&T assets in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for $ 1.95 billion is maintained.

“It is taking longer, because of the pandemic, because of side-by-side communication with the federal government and regulators,” he acknowledged of the transaction that they now hope to close before the end of 2020, instead of during the third quarter of this year.

However, “I want to make it very clear that (the acquisition) is going to happen. There is no indication that it will not happen. ”

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