The companies said the tie-up would benefit Sky customers.
On Monday, July 22, Sky Cable Corporation announced that it has reached a deal with Converge ICT Solutions, Inc. to “bring faster, superior, and more reliable internet service to new and existing Sky Fiber subscribers by utilizing the pure fiber network of [Converge].”
Through the commercial arrangement, Sky will utilize the unused capacity of Converge’s 8 million ports or 16 million households, and a fiber footprint that extends over 700,000 kilometers nationwide.
According to Converge, they only serve about 2.3 million residential broadband subscribers across the country as of March 2024, leaving much capacity yet to be used.
“Through the arrangement with Converge, we expect Sky and its subscribers to benefit from the world-class fiber network that Converge has built over the last few years,” Sky Cable Corp. President and Chief Operations Officer Claudia Suarez said.
Likewise, Converge President and Co-Founder Maria Grace Uy believes that the partnership “…will be a revenue boost for Converge consistent with similar arrangements with other players as we are able to continue to monetize further our excess network capacity.”
Sky Cable Corp. Chairman Mark Lopez described Converge’s network “…a superior state of the art fiber network nationwide that Sky customers will soon experience.”
“…I’m really excited that we are able to help Sky, the leader in the cable business, in its own transformation program by providing them the latest optical fiber technology,” noted Converge CEO and co-Founder Dennis Anthony Uy.
Sky Cable says it will inform its customers when the network upgrade in their respective areas will begin.
The new partnership comes in the aftermath of the fallout of PLDT’s supposed acquisition of Sky Cable last February.
That deal, which was first announced in March 2023, was worth Php 6.75 billion and would have seen the winding down of Sky’s cable television services, with Sky’s broadband base being absorbed into PLDT’s network.
However, the Sky-PLDT was ultimately terminated before the transaction was meant to be closed due to undisclosed reasons.