CONVERGE ICT Solutions, Inc. is targeting more customers in provinces as it connects more areas with low fiber penetration, its chief operations officer said.
Converge is 鈥渓ighting up鈥 customers in Masbate, Mindoro, Panay, and soon in Butuan, Converge Chief Operations Officer Jesus C. Romero told 大象传媒 in a virtual interview on Dec. 3.
鈥淭here is still a lot of work to be done, [especially in the] Visayas and Mindanao,鈥 he noted. 鈥淣ow that we have our own backbone, the backbone that we built ourselves, we are now in a position to fiber up our customers.鈥
Converge recently completed its P6-billion domestic submarine cable project that connects the Philippines鈥 major islands from Luzon to the Visayas and Mindanao to its national fiber backbone.
The company said the 1,800-kilometer subsea cable made its final landing in Coron, Palawan on Oct. 31.
鈥淭here is still a whole lot more demand that is unserved,鈥 Mr. Romero said. 鈥淪o for us, let鈥檚 make fiber available because if there is no fiber in the area, there can be no customers.鈥
Converge will soon launch its services in Palawan, according to Mr. Romero.
Meanwhile, the company has opened 23 business centers across the country as of the end of November.
鈥淚n regional areas, many people are still comfortable transacting face-to-face, and that鈥檚 why we are still rolling out business centers just so we can accommodate the needs of this particular segment,鈥 Mr. Romero noted.
Converge also aims to increase the value of its offerings in addition to expanding its services across the country.
鈥淎s you know, last month, we increased the bandwidth allocation of our subscribers,鈥 Mr. Romero said.
Previously, Converge鈥檚 25 megabits per second (Mbps) was valued at P1,500 and 200Mbps at P3,500; but after reaching one million customers last year, its 25Mbps was upgraded to 35Mbps for free.
The company hit 1.5 million subscribers recently, so it rolled out new plans (FiberX plans) starting with Plan 1,500 for 50 Mbps with an add-on for 10Mbps for P99, Plan 2,500 for 300 Mbps, and Plan 3,500 for 800 Mbps. 鈥 Arjay L. Balinbin
