Carl Raymond Cruz, the incoming CEO of Globe Telecom, has experience with the “pecularities” of different markets. The Philippines’ native has worked in several different markets, including Sri Lanka, India and Nigeria. Cruz just took over the Filipino telco as its new chief executive, replacing Ernest Cu, who’s run the Southeast Asia 500 company for over a decade.

Nigeria, where Cruz was based before joining Globe, is an economy where “volatility was on steroids.” Cruz was the CEO of Indian telco Airtel’s Nigeria operations, from May 2023 to December 2024.

“During my time the local currency moved from 519.6 Naira to the dollar to 750 Naira to the dollar in a span of three weeks, and a further eight weeks onwards, that became over 1100 Naira to the dollar,” Cruz remembers. “Inflation shot up to close to 41-42% in parts of the country.”

That experience taught Cruz to “never underestimate” any market. “I could have said ‘oh, this is 10-15 years behind the Philippines’ and that, even with my eyes closed, I know what to do,” he says. But he didn’t take that approach, and found that “true enough, there are peculiarities in every market.”

Who is Carl Raymond Cruz?

Cruz joined Globe as deputy CEO in January, before taking over as CEO on Tuesday. He’s relatively new to the telecoms industry. Much of his career was spent in the fast-moving consumer goods sector, working with Unilever across several different markets.

But Cruz says he was always attracted to the telecoms industry. Both FMCG and telecoms focus on consumers, but you “feel the impact more in telecommunications,” Cruz says, given that it serves as the backbone of the digital economy.

When Airtel Nigeria approached him, Cruz didn’t hesitate to jump ship—in part due to his “bias” for Indian companies, stemming from his India experience.

“I do like the rigor of how great Indian companies work. I like the operational intensity,” Cruz says.

Plans for Globe

Cruz wants to tap the Philippines’ fast growing digital economy to grow Globe’s user base. While Globe is leads the telco sector by market cap and in mobile users, Cruz wants to make Globe a key player in both broadband and fibre, as well as in enterprise services.

“We want to be the most admired, the most profitable and the largest. Because while we are number one in mobile, our place and our footing in the other two segments can be improved,” Cruz says

Part of Globe’s network includes GCash, the finance super-app run by Globe affiliate Mynt. Cruz, previously, had noted that a GCash IPO could come as early as the final quarter of the year.

“We haven’t filed any proposal or application to list at this point in time. The focus is making sure that we are ready when the right time comes,” Cruz says.

Cruz notes that Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs are part of the reason why he wants that flexibility for a GCash IPO. But while Trump’s pivots on trade policy have caused global uncertainty, Cruz is confident the Philippines can withstand any major shocks.

“Inflation is going down below 3%. GDP is hovering between 5.5 to 6%. We have a very stable [business process outsourcing] sector and 72% of the GDP is from domestic consumption,” Cruz says. “From a macro perspective, the Philippines will be resilient.”

The new CEO of the Philippines’ largest telco says his Nigeria and India experience taught him to ‘never underestimate’ any market