CEBU, Philippines — Fulfilling its commitment to support Philippine tourism, Converge ICT Solutions Inc., announced that it will roll out more free WiFi connections in more airports across the country, including the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA).
“We want to provide [good] connectivity to all travelers,” said Converge co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Dennis Anthony Uy during the recently held press briefing.
According to Uy, Cebu or the MCIA will have a Converge-powered free WiFi by August this year.
In early 2024, Converge installed its free WiFi commitment at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). Uy said the company has identified eight more airports to be installed with fast Internet connectivity.
In addition to Cebu, Converge has planned to deploy complimentary WiFi services at airports in Tacloban, Davao, Bacolod-Silay, Iloilo, Laoag, Pagadian, and Zamboanga.
This program forms part of the Free Pure Fiber Wi-Fi project of Converge where it aims to deliver free connectivity to all the terminals of selected nine international and domestic airports in the country, in partnership with the Department of Transportation and several airport operators.
This initiative is a component of Converge’s Free Pure Fiber WiFi project, designed to provide complimentary internet access to all terminals of nine chosen international and domestic airports nationwide. It is being carried out in collaboration with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and multiple airport operators.
Meanwhile, during the press briefing, Converge officials led by Dennis Uy, and president and co-founder Maria Grace Y. Uy reported consolidated revenues of P9.5 billion in the first quarter 2024, an increase of 10.4 percent compared to the same period last year while net income reached P2.6 billion, jumping 17.5 percent year-on-year, amid sustained robust demand for its flagship and flanker fiber broadband products and enterprise solutions.
”This strong showing in the first quarter of 2024 puts us solidly on track to reach our revenue guidance for the year. We’re confident we can sustain this steady growth for the rest of the year, especially as we lean into our mass-market offerings,” reported Grace Uy.
Converge registered its highest quarterly net additions in subscribers in 10 quarters, with 124,793 added to its subscriber base to reach nearly 2.3 million residential customers at the end of March 2024.
“We continue to see rising demand for our fiber products, both prepaid and postpaid. At the same time, we are not sitting still - we are diversifying our potential offerings to go beyond connectivity through cooperation with global tech companies, such as the recently concluded Memorandum of Understanding with NAVER Cloud of South Korea,” added Dennis Anthony Uy.
Enterprise revenues grew by 10.5 percent in the first quarter of the year, reaching P1.4 billion. Enterprise remains a growth area for the company as it intends to officially roll out forthcoming products targeting the MSME (micro small and medium enterprise) sector and expand services to the public sector.
“For the rest of 2024, we are laser-focused on growing our sales partnerships and distribution channels to further prop up customer acquisition in our mass market brands. We also plan to strengthen the push for our Enterprise-grade solutions to growing industries,” explained Converge Chief Commercial Officer Benjamin Azada.
“Keeping customers happy remains a top priority for us; that’s why we keep fortifying our network and pushing programs to improve customer experience. And we are seeing these efforts bearing fruit with elevated customer satisfaction,” added Converge Chief Operations Officer Jesus C. Romero.
Gains were made in residential churn management as consolidated residential churn reached a low 1.82 percent, the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2022. This contributed to the shoring up of net additions in the latest preceding quarter.