Speed-starved net users push Converge’s 9-month earnings up 136 percent

MANILA, Philippines—Earnings of broadband internet provider Converge ICT Solutions Inc. more than doubled in the first nine months of 2021 thanks to a surge in the number of subscribers to its fiberoptic network services as the pandemic forced many Filipinos to keep working from home.

At an online briefing, company CEO Dennis Anthony Uy said Converge’s net income stood at nearly P5.2 billion at the end of September 2021, or rising more than double by 136 percent from its P2.2 billion earnings in the same period in 2020.

In addition to the strong growth of its subscriber base, the company also experienced sustained recovery of its business segment led by small and medium enterprises.

In the third quarter alone, Converge added a record number of almost 280,000 subscribers, bringing its total residential subscriber count to nearly 1.6 million, 75 percent higher than its level in the same period in 2020.

This was made possible as Converge reached peak levels in its port deployment at over 650,000 ports in the third quarter.

“We have completed our nationwide backbone, allowing us to expand into new areas in the Visayas and Mindanao, while continuing to go deep into underserved areas in Luzon,” Uy said. “We have also augmented our sales force so that we can serve a broader number of our people with world-class fiber broadband connectivity.”

As of end-September 2021, the nationwide network of Converge reached more than 9.6 million homes, allowing it to accelerate its target to cover approximately 55 percent of Filipino households to 2023—two years ahead of the original 2025 schedule announced when it sold shares to the public last year.

Because of this, consolidated revenues of the company grew by 76.4 percent year-on-year to P18.8 billion in the first nine months of 2021.

Revenues from the residential business grew by 94.6 percent to P16.4 billion during the nine-month period. Residential average monthly revenue per user remained steady at P1,346.

On the other hand, Converge Business revenues grew by 8.5 percent to P2.5 billion, mostly from the SME segment, continuing the trend seen in the second quarter of 2021.

Over the past quarter, Converge also completed its P6 billion, 1,800-kilometer subsea cable project with its final landing in Coron, Palawan, connecting the country’s major islands to its domestic fiber backbone.

Converge’s domestic fiber backbone now totals 90,000 kilometers, passing through some 440 cities and municipalities nationwide and introducing its broadband service to new markets including Iloilo, Cagayan province and Cagayan de Oro City.

TSB