Uy-led Dito to start next phase of P4-B submarine cable project

MANILA, Philippines — After passing another government technical audit, Dito Telecommunity Corp. announced Thursday that the second phase of its underwater cable project will start "soon".

In a briefing with reporters, the Dennis Uy-led telco reported that the initial phase of the submarine cable link, which connected the three major Philippine islands. has been operational since March. The second phase of the cable-laying project will then link Dito’s fiber optic network in Palawan to the rest of the archipelago.

“DITO is creating a modern telecommunications infrastructure, a network that does not rely on the existing infrastructure of anyone but by building our very own, not just for the ever-growing subscriber base of more than two point six million, but for the Filipino people,” said Rodolfo Santiago, a retired military general who serves as the company’s chief technology officer.

Dito, a consortium between the Davao-based businessman and state-run China Telecom, has invested a total of P4 billion to install submarine cable, which could boost its coverage and bandwidth speeds.

The third telco player reported it has laid out 18,074 kilometers of land-based fiber optic cable in the first phase of its cable installation. At the same time, the telco company has completed the installation and construction of 3,094 cell towers nationwide.

By end of the year, Dito hopes it would have more than 4,500 cell sites.

The developments came part and parcel of its announcement that Dito’s nationwide commercial rollout is set to capture 3 million subscribers by the end of September.

Per company officials, the telco has 2.6 million subscribers within its network, acquiring an average of 20,000 new customers daily. It reportedly took Dito three months to hit a million subscriptions.

As it stands, the telco is offering data promos that cost P199 for 25 gigabytes of consumable mobile internet for 30 days. But the rollout has been limited to compatible Android smartphones, with iOS users left on their own to manually install connectivity parameters.

Shares in Dito CME, the telco’s parent, finished Thursday trading down 0.23% to P8.82 apiece.