Converge sets up Vismin headquarters in Mandaue

CEBU, Philippines —  The third telecom company in the country, Converge ICT Solutions Inc., (Converge) recently announced to build P1 billion data center facility in Mandaue City, which will serve as its hub for the Visayas and Mindanao operations following its official entry to Cebu.

This was announced by Converge co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Dennis Anthony Uy during the official ceremonial launching of Converge in Cebu held at the Oakridge Executive Club.

Making Cebu as its hub for its aggressive expansion of providing high-speed fiber optic internet connection in Visayas and Mindanao, Uy said the company is investing P1 billion for the building of data center alone.

The construction of the six-story building will start this year and will serve as Converge headquarters to support the aggressive roll out of the company into southern Philippines.

“We’ve already hit the ground running when we had our soft launch in Cebu last November. Considering that we’ve only been operating in Mandaue and Cebu cities on a limited basis, we’ve already signed on thousands of subscribers and established partnerships with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and Enterprise clients,” said Uy in his speech.

Since Converge’s soft launch in Cebu last November, it has already covered more than 440,000 households, spanning 48 cities and municipalities, and more than a thousand barangays.

This telco challenger targets to deploy at least 250,000 fiber ports in Visayas within this year.

Uy, an Angeles City mogul, owning a string of businesses mostly in Luzon, said Converge had already spent P6 billion for its subsea fiber optic rollout in Visayas and Mindanao.

This is all part of the broader ‘Go National’ strategy, which is essentially our nationwide expansion plan. With  Converge’s fiber optic cables having already landed in Cebu last April 2021 and with three landing points in the island - in San Remigio, Bogo, and Naga - our domestic fiber backbone is firmed up and ready to take on the pent-up demand for fiber connection in central Philippines,” said Converge Chief Operations Officer Jesus C. Romero.

Converge can now offer innovative products such as the FiberX Time of Day plans to the Visayas market. The Time of Day plans offer speed boosts ranging from 70mbps to 800 Mbps at pre-set times of the day depending on the preference of the customer. At such price points, Converge is offering the best value for money broadband service in the market, he added.

At present, residents of Cebu City and Mandaue City can avail of Coverge’s high-speed fixed fiber optic internet connection from as low as P1,500 per month.

Converge aims at providing at least 7 million Filipino households, or 55 percent of the Philippine household by 2025. Its expansion in Cebu connecting the rest of Visayas and Mindanao is seen to fast track this goal.

As a new player in the market subsequently dominated by a few major players, Uy vowed that Converge is serious in its catching up.

“We are not just expanding our national backbone but also our international also network via trans pacific cable system,” he added.

The listed fiber internet provider earlier announced that it would invest more than $100 million in a new transpacific cable system aimed at increasing internet speeds and network diversity in the country.

Converge’s financial muscle is backed by a US$225 million or P12.8 billion investment of a United States-based Warburg Pincus, one of the world’s biggest private equity firms.