Terrible traffic and the rising number of vehicles have made road infrastructure the government’s priority for development and improvement. But the pandemic has shifted attention on a type of infrastructure that has likewise been underdeveloped but sadly overlooked: digital infrastructure.
With underinvestment in digital infrastructure both from the public and private side, it’s no wonder that fixed broadband penetration rate in the Philippines is less than 20%, way behind its regional peers.
Dennis Anthony Uy, CEO and Co-Founder of Converge ICT Solutions Inc., saw this gap and dared to do better.
Recently, Converge announced the completion of its domestic subsea cable network, connecting the submarine segment with its pure fiber terrestrial backbone, linking the whole archipelago from Luzon to Visayas and Mindanao. With this, Uy proclaims, “The country’s most advanced digital infrastructure - which we call our national digital highway, is finished.”
“When we say the national digital highway, we mean the fiber backbone connecting all the major islands across the country. With this in place, we can already fan out to the provinces, and soon serve more than half of the Philippines’ population,” Uy pointed out.
What makes a good highway? If it’s a roadway, it’s not just about the length, or the number of cities connected - it’s about the traffic flow too, or how many cars it can accommodate at any given time.
Thus, Converge ensured its “highway capacity” - or data transmission capacity - is the most advanced in the industry.
“Our network runs on both 400 Gbps and 800 Gbps per lambda. These refer to the amount of data that can be pushed through between and among data centers in our network. The fiber backbone running on the industry-leading standard of 800 Gbps, the only one in the country today, makes possible high-speed data transfers that are needed for streaming, remote storage, and next-generation technologies,” he said further.
With its 400 Gbps and 800 Gbps capacity, Converge encompasses the needs of any sector - from the small, fledgling SME in need of a stable connection, to an entire government department handling massive amounts of national data.
And what about service reliability? Fiber can be prone to fiber cuts, which cause outages in serviced areas. With the national digital highway now having redundancy loops - think of these as alternative routes - the network is now resilient against outages and service interruptions.
“With the way our network is designed, we have achieved a Level 2 redundancy. That simply means we have a layered protection against network failures,” he explained.
The world-class, resilient, and high-speed pure fiber digital highway of Converge is ready for service and is one step in firming up the country’s digital infrastructure.
With this digital infrastructure, the dream of democratizing connectivity - making it available to every Filipino, regardless of economic standing - is one step closer to being a reality.
“Digital access is no longer a privilege of a few but a right of everyone. This digital highway of Converge is the key to that dream. We will continue to work hard until every Filipino, no matter where they are or what economic class they belong to, will have access to fast, stable and reliable connection,” Uy said. “Digital access is no longer a privilege of a few but a right of everyone. This digital highway of Converge is the key to that dream. We will continue to work hard until every Filipino, no matter where they are or what economic class they belong to, will have access to fast, stable and reliable connection.”