DITO Telecommunity Corp., the joint venture of businessman Dennis Uy and China Telecoms, said Tuesday said it is set to commercially launch on March 8 in the Visayas and Mindanao before offering its services in Metro Manila.
"We want the public to know that on March 8 of this year, we will be having our commercial launch and it is going to be launched in waves … We are going to start first in Mindanao. Our initial commercial rollout will be Mindanao and Visayas," DITO chief administrative officer Adel Tamano said.
"And then as we move on in waves we will of course within the year we will already offering our services in NCR, Luzon and the rest of the Philippines," he said.
Tamano said its telecom services would be available in Metro Manila and other parts of the country by the second quarter of the year.
DITO earlier passed the first technical audit by an independent auditor R.G. Manabat & Co., which was commissioned by the National Telecommunications Commission.
The independent auditor reported to NTC that DITO’s first year of national population coverage reached 37.48 percent or 37,845,315 based on the 2015 national census population of 100,983,124. It covered 8,860 barangays.
Meanwhile, PLDT Inc. signed an agreement with DITO for the construction of a transmission facility that will serve as the point of interconnection for their subscribers.
Under the agreement, PLDT will establish and manage the interconnection facility that will operate as the primary physical interface for both companies.
PLDT chief revenue officer and Smart Communications president and chief executive Al Panlilio emphasized how “it is important for us that we establish this interconnection capability between PLDT-Smart and the customers of DITO as mandated by the NTC, and principally to make sure that our customers are able to communicate."
“During this pandemic, technology has been a lifeline for our customers, so we want to make sure that our connectivity is solid in helping our fellow Filipinos and the entire nation during these critical times. We thank DITO for this partnership, and I am looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship," he said.
Through PLDT’s technology and expertise, the interconnection hub will deliver the inter-carrier requirements of DITO which will benefit all fixed and wireless subscribers of PLDT and DITO by enabling them to communicate and connect to all the services needed.
PLDT has been heavily investing in its network and expanding its coverage to service more businesses and consumers, both in the country and abroad.
PLDT operates the most expansive fiber optic network among local ISPs reaching over 429,000 kilometers.