Converge ICT Solutions Inc. yesterday said its strategy to invest on its own national fiber network infrastructure has reduced the cost of high-speed internet particularly in unserved and underserved areas.
Jesus Romero, Converge chief operations officer, in a recent forum on broadband affordability, said the company’s P25-billion investment in its national fiber network ultimately meant savings to consumers as having to piggyback on other players’ infrastructure would mean passing on the costs to customers.
“The existing infrastructure back then either did not have enough capacity or was uneconomical to use. So we took a more pragmatic approach,” Romero said in a statement.
Romero added as it is, Converge is rolling out its network to unserved and underserved areas to fulfill unmet connectivity needs.
“Our data show more than 90 percent of our subscribers are first-time fixed broadband postpaid users. This means that we are making fixed broadband more accessible now to people who did not have access to it before or were using alternative methods to connect to the internet,” he said.
Converge also attributes its ability to provide access to more people at affordable prices to its unique corporate structure. Instead of outsourcing, the company created its own in-house network construction subsidiary called Metroworks.
“We build our own network – allowing us to roll-out faster, with higher quality and lower cost thus allowing us to transfer savings back to the subscribers giving them better value,” Romero said.
Through Metroworks, Converge uses high-end construction technologies such as microtrenching for its expansion, making roll-out faster while minimizing issues around permitting. Microtrenching machines are able to lay cables as fast as two kilometers a day.
As of third quarter 2021, Converge’s terrestrial backbone has reached 90,000 kilometers, not including its extensive last-mile network. As of that time, Converge is serving around 440 cities and municipalities nationwide.
Meanwhile, Converge said it has invested over P100 million to intensify its network security systems as part of efforts to help make the internet a safer place, especially for children.
To date, over 20,000 websites featuring child sexual abuse imagery have been blocked on the Converge network, effectively curbing the heavy traffic to these illicit sites that has been averaging 1,200 hits per minute, according to internal data.
“We are committed to ensure that our network is ironclad against illicit content, especially those harmful to children. Schemes to spread this criminal content evolve with technology and that’s why we continually upgrade our tools to combat them. So far, we’ve invested over P100 million in internet safety tools to ensure that the content that passes through our network is safe,” said Ronald Brusola, Converge chief technology officer. – Myla Iglesias
