Third telco DITO Telecommunity Corp said it will be able to build 2,000 towers by yearend and meet the extended deadline for the technical audit set by the telecom regulator.
Adel Tamano, DITO chief administration officer, said the company needs to build 1,300 towers to meet its first year commitment which ends July 8. Of these, 300 towers are in operation.
“By the end of our commitment period, our goal internally as a company is to build 10,000 towers.” Tamano said at a recent Senate hearing.
With only 300 completed towers, DITO would have failed to comply the technical launch originally set July 8, 2020, where the company is required to have 37 percent coverage and deliver minimum internet speed of 27 megabits per second.
But the National Telecommuniation Commission yesterday
issued a resolution extending the July 2020 technical audit under DITO’s certificate public convenience necessity provision in consideration of the delays caused by the lockdowns due to the pandemic.
Under the current extension, DITO is given until the end of the year to deliver the commitment.
Tamano said only the technical audit schedule was moved.
DITO’s other commitments, such as the commercial launch this March 2021 will proceed as scheduled.
Gregorio Honasan II, secretary of the Department of Information and Communication Technology said he was informed by DITO it has begun limited user testing and that it is expanding this within the next few months under the friendly user test.
