Converge exploring satellite tech of SpaceX

MANILA, Philippines — Pure end-to-end fiber internet service provider Converge ICT Solutions Inc. is exploring latest technologies to bring high-speed broadband to far-flung areas in the country, including satellite technologies of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. of tech magnate Elon Musk.

“The company is always looking for new technologies to bring high-speed internet services to the broadest number of Filipinos,” Converge said in a disclosure to the local bourse.

“The latest satellite technologies, including that of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., are among those new technologies being explored by Converge to bring high-speed broadband to far-flung areas in the country,” it said.

SpaceX, founded by Musk in 2002, designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft.

Converge, however, said talks are still exploratory and “it is still very premature to talk about a possible partnership between Converge and SpaceX at this stage.”

Converge, the country’s fastest growing fiber internet service provider, has made available its high-speed broadband internet to more areas in the country with its fiber network reaching over 55,000 kilometers as of end-2020.

The company was able to add more than 28,300 kms of fiber optic cables last year, expanding its fiber network by 107 percent from about 26,600 kms at the end of 2019.

With its fiber infrastructure, Converge said it has made available nearly 2.7 million fiber to the home ports for broadband customers nationwide.

The company’s residential subscribers have reached over one million as of end 2020, nearly double from around 529,000 the previous year.

Converge targets to reach over 15 million or 55 percent of Philippine households by 2025.

As of December 2020, the company recorded 6.1 million homes passed, accounting for 25 percent of total households in the country.

Through its “Go Deep” and “Go National” strategies for its network expansion, Converge aims to penetrate unserved and underserved areas within its existing customer base, as well as complete within the year the expansion of its network coverage nationwide by connecting Luzon with Visayas and Mindanao through a primary domestic fiber backbone.