Converge sets aside $600M to reach out to more underserved areas

Fiber internet firm Converge ICT Solutions aims to double its revenue this year as it rolls out high-speed data connections in more underserved areas.

The company’s capital spending in 2020 will hit about $600 million, up by about 50 percent compared to the 2019 level, Converge founder and president Dennis Anthony Uy told the Inquirer.

Pampanga-based Uy said the target was to double the company’s customers to one million subscribers next year. This will help revenues clear P20 billion, also double its 2019 sales.“We are still expanding aggressively,” Uy said, pointing to the limited fiber internet penetration in the Philippines.

Converge ICT is in the midst of building a $1.8-billion internet backbone across the country.It received a big boost last September after receiving a $250 million investment from private equity giant Warburg Pincus.The move gave Warburg a substantial minority stake in Converge ICT, which was also the firm’s first investment in the Philippines.

Converge ICT is building infrastructure along with partners KT Corp. of South Korea and LSI-Fibernet Konstruk Corp., a Filipino-Korean venture.Uy earlier said the Luzon backbone would be substantially complete by early this year. The plan includes a domestic cable that will link the country’s main islands via 20 landing stations. Converge ICT is also in talks with international submarine cable companies, Uy said.

Uy said the coming years would also see the company ramp up its presence in Visayas and Mindanao.

He said the company was also preparing for new applications with the gradual shift to 5G, the next-generation mobile standard.