Third telco DITO Telecommunity Corp. is ready to commercially launch mobile telecom services initially in Metro Cebu and Metro Davao by next week.
DITO has conducted a national rollout of its network but will just do a commercial launch in key areas in Visayas and Mindanao, and eventually make its way to the rest of the country with more than 37 percent population coverage in a couple of months, Adel Tamano, DITO chief administrative officer, said.
DITO will commercially launch its mobile services in phases starting March 8. Initially, it will be available in 10 key cities in Metro Cebu — Carcar, Cebu City, Consolacion, Danao, Liloan, Mandaue, Minglanilla, Naga, San Fernando and Talisay — and five key cities in Metro Davao — Panabo, Tagum, Carmen, Davao City and Digos.
Tamano earlier said DITO’s services will be launched in Metro Manila in the second quarter this year.
Last month, DITO passed the government’s first technical audit and surpassed the speed requirements.
DITO also signed interconnection agreements with incumbent telcos PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. for mobile calls and text messaging.
The interconnection agreement enables Globe subscribers to make domestic mobile calls and send texts to DITO customers without additional charges.
To date, DITO has built 2,260 towers and 15,119 kilometers of fiber optic infrastructure.
On its first year of operation this year, DITO is expected to deliver a minimum of 27 Megabits per second internet speed in 37 percent of the population nationwide.
DITO has spent more than P100 billion last year and is on track to spend P27 billion for capital expenditure this year which form part of its committed budget of P257 billion over a five-year period.
