Converge’s revenue up 7.2 percent, subscribers surpass 2M as of September

Converge recorded higher revenues in September 2023 compared to the same period last year as its subscriber count breached 2 million.

Photo from Converge

Converge's performance as of September 2023

In a press release, Converge said it recorded a revenue of PHP26.2 billion in the first nine months of the year, up 7.2 percent from last year. It also reported growth in its residential business by 5.2 percent to PHP22.5 billion in the same period. This represents 85.6 percent of consolidated revenues for the first nine months of 2023.

The company also ended September with 2,048,286 subscribers. This is comprised of 1,966,105 postpaid subscribers and 82,181 prepaid subscribers.

Specifically, "Converge increased its residential subscriber base by 78,623 net adds in 3Q2023, as a result of the growth momentum of Bida Fiber and Surf2Sawa and the resurgence of demand for FiberX."

FiberX contributed 35,214 in net adds in 3Q2023. This is the highest quarterly net adds for FiberX since 1Q2022 which was the quarter before the Company reinstated its policy on upfront fees for new subscribers, it added.

Meanwhile, Surf2Sawa's net adds amounted to 28,020 and Bida Fiber garnered 23,895 net adds in the quarter.

Bida Fiber offers up to 35 Mbps of unlimited fiber connectivity to budget-conscious consumers. Surf2Sawa is a prepaid fiber product, that allows its customers to have the flexibility of availing unlimited fiber connectivity on a when-needed and as-needed basis. This offers up to 25 Mbps of unlimited Fiber connectivity with multiple top-up options at unmatched price points ranging from just PHP50 for 1 day up to PHP700 pesos for 30 days.

Bida Fiber and Surf2Sawa, combined, aim to target 17 million untapped households in the country which represents over 77% of the overall market for fixed broadband. Despite the lower average revenues per unit (“ARPU”) for the two low-cost products, the Company still expects both products’ payback periods to be well below one year and relatively close to FiberX’s, Converge said.

The company recently announced that all residential subscribers have free access to BlastTV, a streaming TV service owned and operated by Tap Digital Media Ventures (TapDMV). This gives customers access to a wide range of genre-based entertainment channels, such as Blast Action, Laff, Crime TV, Talk Shows, Blast Cinema, Fear, Family Movies, Reality TV, Comic U, Showcase Drama, and Game Show Central, as well as Video on Demand and catch-up content available to watch on the viewer’s own time.

Converge Singapore, the international unit of Converge, is also now operational. This allows the company to offer services to international customers, such as Ethernet-International Private Line service, Dedicated Internet Access service, and submarine cable capacities, among others.

Meanwhile, Converge expects both of its subsea cable systems, the Bifrost Cable System and the South-East Asia Hainan-Hong Kong Express Cable System ("SEA-H2X"), to be completed and operational by the latter half of 2024. These two and its Singaporean office are expected to open a lot of growth opportunities for Converge’s wholesale business as a supply for international bandwidth remains thin.

In September, Converge was awarded a Three-Arrow rating in the latest ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS), as it improved its adherence to corporate governance best practices and aligned its business operations to global standards.

Converge's Environment, Social, and Corporate Governance also ratings improved in the latest reports released by MSCI and Sustainalytics. The company received a rating of 'A' (on a scale of AAA – CCC) from its 'BBB' rating in the previous year. This reflects the company's resilience to ESG risks and cements its reputation as a highly investable and financially viable company.

What do you think about this?