The country’s third telecom provider, Dito Telecommunity Corp., is ready for its second year audit this July but said its network coverage is still far from its competitors’.
Dito now has presence in 123 cities and municipalities after opening commercial service in additional 23 cities over the weekend, and targets to be present in 146 areas by the end of the month.
Dito’s network coverage also expanded from 37 percent to about 51 percent of the population, which is the government’s required network coverage for the second audit set on July 8, said Rodolfo Santiago, Dito chief technology officer.
“Later this year, you will see the aggressiveness of opening up of more areas for commercial services. We are ready to achieve our second year commitment in terms of coverage, we’re about ready to complete the minimum 51 percent population coverage that was required of us by July 8,” Santiago said at a virtual press briefing last Friday.
The requirement for its second year of operation is to cover 51 percent of the country’s population and offer a minimum internet speed of 55 megabits per second (Mbps), an improvement from the first year of operation’s 37 percent network coverage and 27 Mbps minimum internet speed.
On connectivity, Santiago urged Dito subscribers not to expect 100 percent coverage yet, as there are isolated areas in the covered cities and municipalities where they may experience intermittent service as the telco ramps up network optimization.
“At this point in time, our network rollout is from 37 percent, we’re already approximating 51 percent required coverage for our second year commitment, still far from 100 percent,” he said.
“We will be minimum comparable to our competitors, but we try our best to provide the better service, from what is currently being offered by our competitors,” he added.
“We do ask for the public’s understanding. There may be instances where consumers may already detect Dito especially in areas wherein we have not formally announced the availability of service. Let me reiterate that in these unserved areas, there are some components that we are readying to ensure the customer experience is excellent,” Santiago also said.
Meanwhile, the company said it is approaching one million subscribers, just a few weeks after its Metro Manila entry.
“When we introduced Dito last May 17 in NCR (National Capital Region) and in other locations, we were just at the half-million subscriber mark, and in just three weeks, we find ourselves about to hit a million subscribers,” said Adel Tamano, Dito chief administrative officer.
The telco has spent over P150 billion for capital expenditure which is part of its committed investment of P257 billion until 2024.
