Dito launches in NCR, prepares for accelerated growth

MANILA, Philippines — Third telecommunications player Dito Telecommunity Corp. intends to accelerate its growth further, targeting at least two million subscribers by yearend, as it introduces its services to the National Capital Region (NCR).

Dito yesterday expanded its services to 46 more areas in the Visayas and Luzon, including Metro Manila.

“Dito has not stopped working, we have pushed harder than ever. Dito is now in 100 cities, including Metro Manila,” Dito chairman and CEO Dennis Uy said.

“Dito is now available in close to 2,000 stores in various cities nationwide from a mere 10 to 20 stores last March 8,” the Davao-based businessman said.

Uy said the new major telco player has so far managed to get 500,000 subscribers. Its debut in NCR is expected to give the company’s subscriber count a major boost.

“The half a million subscribers only covers the 54 cities and municipalities. And with the addition of 46 cities and municipalities, we expect that this will drastically increase,” Dito chief technology officer Rodolfo Santiago said.

“With our launch in NCR, hopefully we get more and more subscribers. For sure, it is safe for us to say definitely a couple of million by the end of the year, that’s our goal. Just do the math, in 54 cities we did 500,000 in less than two months,” Dito chief administrative officer Adel Tamano added.

The Dito officials said expansion would continue to more areas nationwide in the coming months.

Dito, owned by the Uy group and state-run China Telecommunications, was mandated to deliver its commitments of 37.03 percent national population coverage with a minimum average broadband speed of 27 Mbps in its first year of operation.

The new major player is targeting to capture 30 percent of the market “as soon as possible.”

“We wanted to achieve 30 percent market share by year something, so that 500,000 (subscribers) is still small. I think 40 million to 50 million unique number of subscribers are what we are targeting,” Santiago said.

With the company’s network rollout continuing, Dito is confident on passing its second technical audit scheduled in July, according to Santiago.

He said Dito now has more than 3,000 towers which are enough to meet the 51 percent population coverage mandated for its next audit.

Santiago said Dito is in fact preparing early for its third year commitment of 70 percent population coverage.

“By July this year we are expecting to meet the 51 percent population coverage as mandated. Next year that’s 70 percent. Since we are about to be ready for our second year commitment, we are already initiating the rollout to meet the third year commitment of 70 percent,” Santiago said.

“We are about to roll out the additional minimum of 1,500 (towers) so we will be able to meet the 70 percent population coverage by year 2022,” he said.