DITO Telecommunity Corp. on Monday launched commercial services in the National Capital Region, with the company aiming to reach millions of subscribers by the end of the year.
In a virtual briefing on Monday, DITO said its services are now available in 100 cities and municipalities across the nation covering 29 million Filipinos.
Commercial services were officially rolled out in Caloocan, Las Pinas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Manila, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Paranaque, Pasay, Pasig, Pateros, Quezon City, San Juan, Taguig, and Valenzuela on Monday.
Aside from these areas, services are also available in Antipolo, Cainta, Taytay; and Balanga, Bocaue, Bulakan, Hagonoy, Malolos, Marilao, Meycauayan, San Jose del Monte.
Other areas include Balanga, Dinalupihan, Subic, Olangapo, Moncada, Angeles, Mabalacat, Mexico, Guagua, Cabuyao, San Pedro, Sta. Rosa, Binan, Cuenca, San Jose, Carmona, Dasmarinas, Lapu Lapu, and Dumanjug.
With the additional locations, DITO said it now has some 500,000 subscribers which it aims to boost even further by the end of the year.
“To be very candid, we cannot give you a really round number, but for sure I think it’s safe for us to say that definitely, a couple of million (subscribers) by the end of the year — that is our goal,” said Chief Administrative Officer Adel Tamano.
Dito officially launched commercial services in March, in pilot areas in the Visayas and Mindanao.
Moving forward, Tamano said the company is set to continue its pace of onboarding some 500,000 subscribers in two months.
DITO is set to undergo its second technical audit in July, to check if the company has fulfilled its second year commitments.
DITO — formerly named the Mislatel Consortium — commitment to have a nationwide coverage of 51.01% in its second year of operations, with a minimum speed of 55 Mbps and a capex/opex of P27 billion.
“We’re about 50% covered already. In fact, as I have said earlier, we are already preparing for our third-year commitments of the 70% population coverage,” said Chief Technology Officer Rodolfo Santiago.
For its third year, DITO committed to reach a 70.01% nationwide coverage, 55 Mbps minimum speed, and P27-billion capex/opex.
The Dito consortium is made up of Uy’s Udenna Corporation, Udenna’s subsidiary Chelsea Logistics Holdings Inc., and Chinese state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation.
Shares in Dito CME Holdings Corp., the holdings company for Uy’s communications, media, and entertainment businesses, opened Monday at P8.99 apiece, unchanged from last Friday.
Shares were last trading down 9.01% or P0.81 at P8.18 apiece as of 12:43 p.m.
