TWENTY-NINE billion. Let me try and write that out in the numeral form: 29,000,000,000. P29B. This (and some) is what Converge ICT raised in its IPO this merry month of October. Great guns, we say.
What is Converge ICT? It is a fiber Internet provider that has been operating for some years now. They burst into Baguio early last year, and there was a rush to finally get reliable, real fiber to the home. As against piggybacking “fiber with repeaters to home” and an absence of actual fiber lines in many parts of the city.
Understandably, thousands signed up and got connected. Rather quickly, rather efficiently, in partnership with our local electric company, Beneco. In many instances, the Converge lines were actually referred to as “Beneco Internet.”
If like yours truly, you “Converged” and got your fiber line, you would agree that the speed with which your line was connected and the speed of your Internet beat anything around. Personally, I appreciated too the up-front advisory and commitment that while our family line was for 25 Mbps, it could be slightly less but never more than 20 percent of the time and never less than 15 Mbps.
If we noticed slow internet speed in the past year and some since we “Converged,” we called Beneco, got connected to Converge or got attended to by Beneco, and by and large, got our speed back. Until lately. Some three weeks ago, our net speed was less than 1 Mbps. This was reported to Beneco, our line was “refreshed,” and nothing happened. Even as this piece goes to bed, that speed has not improved.
This week, on the 27th, a cryptic advisory was posted on the Facebook page of Converge ICT - in Partnership with Beneco. From the latter’s management, the advisory reads, “We wish to inform the public that Converge ICT Solutions has unilaterally terminated our business partnership effective November 1, 2020. In this regard, we wish to advise and inform all Converge subscribers and the public that Beneco will no longer handle the acceptance and processing of applications for Converge internet connection including the acceptance of payments for monthly subscription and installation fees.
“Should you wish to transact with Converge, you may call them directly at their numbers or visit them at their office ... For everyone’s information and guidance.”
The last time I was advised to go to the Converge office, it was in the Beneco building in DPS Compound. So is it still? The last time I tried to directly call the Converge numbers as published, no one answered until after about six attempts, each lasting maybe 20 minutes. That Facebook page is itself bursting with complaints about how those Converge numbers are never answered when called. Did you know that sans Beneco, the Converge “hotline” for Baguio is a landline number in Pampanga? And this right here is a tale of connections becoming unconnected.
We are advised that there is supposed to be a call center in place. There is none. We are advised that there are rules and regulations, laws, that govern how an Internet provider conducts business. I daresay they need to kick in now, in this resulting limbo, and that NTC gets a hold of how Converge is now not doing just business in our neck of the woods. On 29B.