LOSSES of Liberty Telecoms Holdings Inc. rose by more than a fourth in the third quarter of the year mostly because of higher operating expenses to acquire more subscribers.

The holding company of wi-tribe Telecoms Inc. said net losses were up by 26.18 percent to P415.91 million in the July to September period from P329.62 million in the same period last year.

This brought the company’s net loss to P1.13 billion in the first nine months from P741 million last year.

Liberty Telecom blamed the losses on higher selling expenses, salaries and wages, network-related expenses and other expenses necessary for the operation and maintenance of its wireless broadband telecommunications network service.

As a result of its efforts to acquire more subscribers, build up its infrastructure and commercial operations, Liberty Telecom’s costs and expenses jumped 71 percent to P1.48 billion in the first nine months from P866 million last year.

“The telecom business requires huge infrastructure investments that cannot be recouped overnight. We are still in the process of building our customer base but we are committed to making the necessary investments as the need arises because we intend to be a serious

contender in this business,” Paul Bernard Causon, treasurer of Liberty Telecom said. Revenues surged 85 percent year-on-year to P145.367 million in the third quarter.

In the first nine months, revenues more than tripled to P389 million from last year’s P112 million.

Liberty Telecom attributed the increase in revenues to the higher postpaid subscriber base of wi-tribe, a partnership between San Miguel Corporation and Qatar Telecoms that offers the country’s only pure 4G broadband internet service.

Earlier, wi-tribe launched its “Tri-speed Pure 4G “ prepaid stick, which allows subscribers to switch connection speeds all in one device. With its new prepaid offering, the company is confident that it would meet the 100,000 target subscriber base for the year.

Based on the company’s amended rehabilitation plan, Liberty Telecom plans to spend P7.15 billion over 10 years to turn it around.

Of the P7.15-billion, P4.53 billion is earmarked for the firm’s capital expenditure program, P367.75 million for short-term loan payments, P361.81 million for long term loans and P336.16 million for payment of other liabilities.