DITO Telecommunity Corp. plans to spend P27 billion next year to ramp up network expansion as it sets its commercial launch by March.
The investment will finance the construction of 3,500 fourth generation (4G) sites and 1,500 5G sites by next year.
This on top of the 1,300 towers needed to be built to achieve the target of covering 37 percent of the population coverage and an internet speed of 27 megabits per second by January.
In a virtual press briefing, Adel Tamano, DITO chief administrative officer, said next year’s capex is lower compared to the P150 billion investment this year, its first year of operation when it had to pay upfront the technology vendors for the rollout in the next five years.
Tamano said DITO is ready for its technical audit scheduled in January and commercial launch by March as the 1,300 cellsites will be completed by end of October.
The company targets to end the year with 2,000 base stations.
As of September 13, DITO had a total of 859 base stations.
For its common tower initiatives, the DITO has signed agreements with six more contractors.
Two of the six newly appointed contractors include Aboitiz for Cebu and Davao and the LEO Group for the National Capital Region.
DITO is also building data centers and eight regional and two permanent core network centers.
DITO has infused P1 billion in investment for cybersecurity, tapped several US based cybersecurity solution companies and put in place the cyber security plan which DITO was required to submit during the selection process.