HONG KONG - Globe Telecom Inc., the Philippines' second-largest phone firm, expects its broadband subscriber numbers to double in each of the next few years, driving the company's growth, a senior executive said on Tuesday.

Globe, owned by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. and local conglomerate Ayala Corp., forecast its net profit would rise about 8% to 9% in 2009, said Ernest Cu, President and CEO of Globe Telecom.

But 2010 growth could be slower than last year, which was boosted by some one-time gains, he told Reuters in an interview. Globe is set to announce 2009 results next month.

Globe had 600,000 broadband users by the end of last year, more than double the number in 2008. Broadband penetration in the Philippines is low at around 10%.

"With all these devices (such as smartphone and netbooks) coming into the affordibility range of the Filipino telecom consumer, I think there will be quite a bit a growth that could happen, exponential growth," he told Reuters in an interview.

The company plans to increase its gearing in the coming years to fund capital spending and higher dividend payouts.

"We are optimising our balance sheet a bit more and our leverage is quite low. We have a target of debt-to-EBITDA coverage to 1.1 times from 0.8 times," he added.