Converge profit up to P9 billion in 9 months

MANILA, Philippines — Broadband specialist Converge ICT Solutions Inc. extended its streak as the fastest-growing connectivity provider in the Philippines as its profit went up by eight percent in the nine months to September.

Based on its financial report, Converge said its net income jumped to P8.9 billion as of September, from P8.21 billion a year ago, as the company raised its revenue faster than spending.

Revenue grew by 10 percent to P32.97 billion due to the strength of its residential and enterprise portfolios, offsetting the eight-percent hike in spending to P11.42 billion.

Converge booked a nine-percent growth in residential revenues to P27.75 billion, as the internet service provider expanded its subscriber base to 2.93 million. Converge recorded a gross addition of about 500,000 customers from January to September.

The company posted a gross addition of more than 100,000 subscribers for retail product Surf2Sawa in the third quarter alone. To date, it is serving 2.42 million customers in the postpaid segment and 510,032 subscribers in the prepaid line.

Further, Converge increased enterprise revenues by 16 percent to P5.22 billion, a growth that it attributed to higher demand from micro, small and medium enterprises.

Still, Converge has room to further expand its subscriber base, managing a fiber network of 8.28 million ports with utilization sitting at 37 percent.

Converge is also expecting the Bifrost Cable System, of which it is a party to, to begin operating before the year ends, providing the Philippines with direct linkage to the US.

Bifrost is the world’s first subsea cable hooking Singapore and the US West Coast via Indonesia through the Java Sea and Celebes Sea. Spanning more than 20,000 kilometers, Bifrost is capable of transferring data between Singapore and the US below 165 milliseconds.

Converge CEO and co-founder Dennis Anthony Uy sees Bifrost as a necessary infrastructure for the Philippines in its digital journey. He said the project would enable high-capacity, cross-border data transfer for countries in Asia and the Pacific.