ANGELES CITY, Pampanga — Leading fiber internet service provider Converge ICT Solutions Inc. now covers 90% of Central Luzon where it started, adding 14 more cities and municipalities in the region this year. The all-fiber network of Converge powers 13 of the 14 cities in the region as well as the highly-urbanized cities of Angeles in Pampanga and Subic in Zambales.
The continuous rapid expansion of Converge enabled it to further grow its subscribers in the Company’s home region, reaching nearly 400,000 at the end of the first quarter of the year or about a third of its total 1.2 million customer base. Aside from Pampanga and Zambales, the other provinces in the Central Luzon service area of Converge are Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, and Tarlac.
“The considerable growth in the subscriber base in the first quarter of the year is indicative of Converge’s sustained brand strength in Central Luzon, even as we rapidly expand our network in NCR and now, in Visayas and Mindanao. We’re not losing sight of our maiden market as we push on in other territories,” said Converge CEO and Co-founder Dennis Anthony Uy, who hailed from Angeles City in Pampanga.
Converge Chief Operations Officer Jesus Romero said the Company is also committed to continue providing the best broadband service in the region for a better digital experience among its subscribers.
“In fact, according to global testing and analysis firm Ookla, Converge is most consistent in Central Luzon among all internet service providers with a consistent average 35.01Mbps speed enjoyed in the region,” he said. The consistency score measures the percentage of a provider’s samples which equals or exceeds both a download and upload fixed thresholds.
Converge also consistently ranks first in the Netflix ISP Speed Index, topping the Philippine ISP Leaderboard every month, making it the preferred broadband provider to fully enjoy your favorite movies and series in the popular streaming service.
Converge Chief Strategy Officer Benjamin Azada said the Company also continues to improve customer experience by enhancing its omni-channel initiatives such as further upgrades in its Converge Xperience app which has been downloaded by over 430,000 subscribers.
“We also ensure real-time and real-person customer care as we improve our answer call rate to 94% in the first quarter, with the addition of 150 call agents,” he said.
In its Q12021 operating and financial results briefing, Converge reported its residential subscriber base reached 1.2 million, putting it on track to reach 1.6-1.7 million subscribers by year-end. For Central Luzon alone, Converge has expanded its ports to over 720,000 at the end of April 2021, increasing by 28% from the end of 2020.
Complementing its “Go Deep” strategy where it continues to aggressively add subscribers in areas where it has presence already is the “Go National” strategy that aims to expand its services nationwide. Last April, Converge already connected Visayas and Mindanao to its national backbone and is on track to launching commercial services in these regions by the second half of the year.
Converge is also fortifying its international network with the recent signing of three agreements with the Keppel Group of Singapore for its participation in the trans-Pacific Bifrost Cable System which Keppel is jointly building with Facebook and Telin of Indonesia. With an investment of around P5 billion, Converge will have 15Tbps capacity in the international subsea cable system and will have exclusive rights for the Davao branch as well as the landing party.
Expected to be completed in 2024 and spanning over 15,000 kilometers, the Bifrost Cable System is the world’s first subsea cable system that directly connects Singapore to the west coast of North America via Indonesia through the Java Sea and Celebes Sea. It will connect Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Guam, and the west coast of North America.
The Bifrost Cable System will boost the connectivity of the region’s governments and businesses, including cloud operators, telecommunications operators, network providers, over-the-top (OTT) providers, data centres, governments, enterprises, and consumers by offering them competitive pricing and capacity resilience.
