Converge Earmarks ₱20 Billion For Nationwide Expansion In 2021

Written by Marc Adrian

Converge ICT Solutions Inc. allocated ₱20 billion in capital expenditures this year for its nationwide expansion to poise itself as a leading fiber internet service provider.

During their press briefing on Thursday, Converge ICT chief financial office advisor Matthias Vukovich said that they’ve increased their total capex for 2021 to ₱20 billion from ₱16 billion in 2020.  They will use the funding as capital for the expansion of Converge ICT’s backbone and the deployment of additional fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) ports to reach approximately 35% of households in the Philippines by December 2021.

Vukovich said in the interview that the budget for the backbone is approximately 30% of the ₱20 billion which are primarily for VisMin, we are hardening the remaining backbones in Luzon. Meanwhile, fifty percent is in the access network, which they are deepening their network and a lot of that will be in Luzon. He claimed that they’ve just scratching the surface in Luzon, and the port deployment.

20% of the remaining capex will be allotted for information technology initiatives such as digitalization efforts to enhance customer experience.

Converge ICT CEO Dennis Anthony Uy added that Converge is eyeing to install 1.5 million ports as part of its goal to cover 55% of total households by 2025, this is equivalent to at least five million residential subscribers. Currently, the company has already deployed 3.5 million ports, which has a network coverage reach of 25% of nationwide households.

The company is currently on track to reach its goal of 55% nationwide household coverage with the anticipated completion of its national backbone network expansion to the Visayas and Mindanao within the first half of the year. And the full commercial launch of the national backbone is in the second half of 2021.

Converge is expecting that the continuous growth of their residential subscribers will be driven by the strong demand for reliable high-speed broadband forecasting their subscribers to grow between 1.6 million and 1.7 million by the end of 2021 from their current 1,038,000 subscribers. 

 

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