CONVERGE ICT Solutions, Inc. is planning to launch soon a prepaid package and a lower-priced “middle-class” bundle for its fiber internet service for homes.
“The important thing is how you can bring the connectivity to the individual Filipino users regardless of economic status,” Converge Chief Executive Officer Dennis Anthony H. Uy said during last week’s groundbreaking ceremony for the Bifrost cable landing system station in Davao City.
“Digital access is not just essential anymore, it’s a right already. We need to find a way, to bring the low-cost and segmented market to the Filipino users,” he said.
Mr. Uy did not say the target price ranges for these new products. The company’s current lowest residential service monthly package is P1,500.
The Converge co-founder also said setting up a Bifrost CLS landing station in Davao City opens opportunities for more investments in the information and technology industry, including digital storage centers.
“When you have a cable landing station, the gateway to other countries here, its tendency is people need the digital highway and they will put the digital data centers, so this is the storage… because you have the infrastructure,” he said.
The Bifrost Cable System is a new trans-Pacific cable system connecting Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines, to the West Coast of North America.
“Bifrost Cable System is going to be the first submarine cable that connects Singapore directly to the US. In the past, most of the submarine cables pass through east Asia, the South China Sea, or the West Philippine Sea, going to Japan and the US,” Jesus C. Romero, Converge chief operations officer, said during the event.
The system is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2024.
The consortium behind Bifrost includes Keppel Midgard Holdings Pte. Ltd., a subsidiary of Keppel Telecommunications & Transportation Limited, Meta, and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia International, an affiliate of PT Telkom Indonesia. — Maya M. Padillo
