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Discussions are reportedly ongoing that would see the Japanese telecoms giant purchase a 49% stake in PLDT’s data centre business
This week, PLDT Chairman Manuel Pangilinan has confirmed to Reuters that discussions are underway regarding the sale of up to 49% of the company’s data centre business unit to Japan’s NTT.
PLDT operates 11 data centres across the Philippines via its IT services subsidiary ePLDT. This unit, sources say, could be valued at as much as $750 million.
For NTT, the deal represents its latest push into the data centre sector, a field it expects to grow rapidly in value due to the rapid evolution of generative AI technology. Already this year the company has announced it will build a new data centre in Paris and a third date centre campus in Berlin.
Overall, NTT says it will invest $10 billion to expand its data centre presence between 2023 and 2027.
For PLDT, on the other hand, the deal is seen as an opportunity to reduce its debt, which sats at $5.47 billion at the end of 2023, despite efforts to reduce it through previous asset sales, like its tower infrastructure back in 2022.
According to sources, no decisions have yet been made regarding the stake sale, but a deal is expected to be announced by the second half of this year.
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