Converge investing P1 billion for new data center

MANILA, Philippines — Fiber broadband provider Converge ICT Solutions Inc. is investing P1 billion to build a data center in Cebu to support its aggressive expansion outside Luzon.

Converge said it would start the construction of it‘s Cebu data center within the year as it prepares to serve the surge in the data requirements in Visayas and Mindanao.

“This data center is quite important, especially for the Visayas, as the demand for digital services and data requirements are going up. We just bought a property in Mandaue where the site will be built,” Converge CEO and co-founder Dennis Anthony Uy said.

Uy said the upcoming state-of-the art data center would initially have 300 racks, as well as a customer contact center which will employ thousands.

On top of its core fixed broadband services, Converge also offers data center services to enterprise clients such as network management services, multi-homed network, disaster recovery services, network redundancy solutions, 24/7 monitoring, co-location and local connectivity.

After building its first data center in NCR in 2016, Converge said it has been actively expanding its data capacity.

With its recent entry into Visayas to serve more residential and enterprise customers, the fiber provider said locating its second data center in Cebu is a strategic move.

Converge has started the roll out of its fiber broadband services in the Visayas with its grand launch in Cebu, initially serving Mandaue and Cebu City.

Converge fiber broadband will be available to serve the broadband needs of consumers and enterprises in the cities of Talisay, Cordova, and Lapu-Lapu in the coming weeks.

Converge has invested P6 billion for its domestic submarine cable network that connected the Visayas and Mindanao to its national fiber backbone and distribution network which has reached over 69,000 kilometers as of end-April.

“Our multi-billion peso investment in the Visayas region is a signal of our commitment to provide the best fiber broadband service to the market,” Uy said.

“For our residential customers, we are glad to be able to offer them fast and reliable broadband plans at affordable prices. For our enterprise customers, we are heavily investing in digital infrastructure to cater to your increasing data service requirements,” he said.

Converge has earmarked P20 billion for capital expenditures this year which will be used for the expansion of its backbone and the deployment of additional fiber-to-the-home ports to reach approximately 35 percent of household in the country by December.

The company is eyeing to reach 55 percent of Filipino households by 2025 through the continuous expansion of the its backbone and the deployment of additional fiber-to-the-home ports.