Moody's Investors Service said it has placed the ''Baa2'' senior unsecured local currency rating of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) under review for possible upgrade due to the company's strong financial performance.

''The review has been prompted by PLDT's ability to retain a consistently strong operating and financial profile despite a slowing economic environment and rapidly deepening cellular penetration," said Moody's vice president Laura Acres.

"The company currently holds a 52 percent subscriber market share in the Philippines wireless segment and 60 percent in the fixed-line business both of which contribute to PLDT's healthy free cash flow generation capabilities," added Acres, who is also Moody's lead analyst for PLDT.

She said the review will focus on PLDT's growth prospects, as well as its capital expenditure requirements for maintenance and rollout of next generation technologies.

It will also cover PLDT's debt profile, financial policies for the next two years and its liquidity risk profile.

PLDT, which is owned by Hong Kong-based First Pacific and Japan's NTT DoCoMo, is the country's leading telecommunications service provider. As of end-December, it had 35.2 million cellular, 1.8 million fixed-line and one million broadband subscribers.