FIBER INTERNET. Dennis Anthony Uy (right) in this Oct. 5, 2019 photo talking with the late Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella (left) at that time the businessman introduced Converge ICT's fastest fiber internet in Cebu province. The company more than doubled its net income amid its aggressive penetration into Visayas and Mindanao homes. (PNA file photo by John Rey Saavedra) CEBU CITY - Fiber internet provider Converge ICT Solutions has more than doubled its net income in 2021, driven by its aggressive penetration into Visayas and Mindanao homes. In a financial briefing with the media, the company said its net income reached PHP7.2 billion in 2021 from PHP3.4 billion the previous year, while consolidated revenues surged from PHP15.7 billion to PHP26.5 billion. Dennis Anthony Uy, Converge ICT chief executive officer and founder, said the company's entry into Visayas and Mindanao has contributed to its aggressive port rollout, along with the continued turn-in of subscribers in Luzon, while existing markets pushed up residential business revenues by 83.2 percent. "Our network has now passed 10.9 million homes and we're covering around 42.5 percent of Philippine households. We're confident of meeting our accelerated goal of reaching 55 percent of all households by 2023," Uy said. Maria Grace Uy, company president and co-founder, said the rollout of over 650,000 ports in the fourth quarter brought its total port deployment to 2.4 million in 2021, bringing its total residential subscriber count to 1.7 million by year-end. "We sustained our industry-leading trifecta with another record financial performance in 2021," she said, referring to the company's 69.2 percent year-on-year revenue growth and 20.9 percent return on invested capital (ROIC) higher than the average of broadband players in the Asia-Pacific region. Uy said the company also maintained its strong credit profile as reflected in the Philippine Rating Service (PRS) AAA credit rating with Stable Outlook given by PhilRatings for its upcoming maiden bond issue. The proceeds of the bond issue will be used to partly fund its capital outlay requirements this year. Converge ICT also announced during the briefing it has earmarked higher capital expenditures of PHP26 billion to PHP28 billion this year, with bulk allotted to fund the expansion of its access network nationwide and further extension of fiber backbone. It spent PHP25 billion for capital expenditure (capex) last year, with fiber backbone reaching 103,000 kilometers passing through 495 cities and municipalities across the country. (PNA) }