Converge year-on-year growth up 23.6 percent to P5.3 billion in H1

CEBU, Philippines — Fiber broadband provider Converge ICT Solutions Inc., registered a 23.6 percent year-on-year growth to P5.3 billion for the first half of 2024.

Consolidated revenues grew 12.4 percent to P19.5 billion on the back of strong uptake of its residential broadband and sustained double-digit growth in its enterprise business.

“Our industry-leading performance in the first half of the year is a promising sign that 2024 will be another banner year for us. We see the demand for fiber broadband to remain unhampered, allowing us to continue reaching more and more Filipinos across different income levels with our flagship FiberX, low-cost postpaid BIDA Fiber, and prepaid Surf2Sawa offerings,” said Converge President and Co-Founder Maria Grace Uy during the recently held online media briefing.

The company reported that its net additional residential subscribers of Converge more than doubled to 223,751 during the six months, a whopping 142 percent jump from 92,302 during the same period last year. This resulted in an 11.8 percent yoy (year-on-year) growth in residential revenues to P16.6 billion in the first half of the year.

Meanwhile, enterprise revenues increased by 16.0 percent yoy to reach P2.9 billion during the six months, following the rollout of products targeting the micro, small, and medium enterprise (MSME) sector and the expansion of regional enterprise sales.

As of end-June 2024, the consolidated subscriber base of Converge reached 2.35 million, a growth of 19.4 percent from 1.97 million as of the same month last year.

“With our recent commercial arrangement with Sky Cable Corp., we see these numbers as just the starting point. We expect the collaboration to bear fruit in terms of revenue growth, as we are bound to see increased port utilization and further monetize our network,” noted Converge CEO and Co-Founder Dennis Anthony Uy.

Converge remains to be the Fastest Internet Service Provider in the Philippines in 2024, as Ookla’s latest, independent survey among ISPs in the Philippines showed a speed score of 147.77 - the best in the industry. This is the second year running that Converge has bested its competitors in speed and digital experience.

Last month, Converge also joined hands with Nasdaq-listed firm Ribbon Communications Inc. to expand its fiber network capacity from its existing 800 Gigabits per second (Gbps) to 1.2 Terabit per second (Tbps) per channel.

Converge also inked a cooperation agreement with global tech leader Super Micro Computer Inc., the US-based total IT solutions provider for artificial intelligence (AI), Cloud, Storage, and 5G/Edge, to pioneer AI-powered, green data centers in the Philippines.

“While we keep a firm handle on our fiber broadband products, we are by no means limiting our technology solutions to these. With the guidance of the Founders, we will continue to expand our business to encompass Filipinos’ digital needs,” added Converge Chief Operations Officer Jesus Romero.  — (FREEMAN)