DITO Telecommunity, a joint venture between Udenna Group and China Telecom, described as the newest telecommunications provider in the Philippines, has teamed up with Udenna Infrastructure Corp (UIC) to carry out part of its mobile network rollout in the Philippines.
According to a number of Philippines press reports, UIC will be given the job of constructing the new company’s tower network as well as the deployment of fibre optic cabling.
UIC is part of Udenna Corporation, the parent company of the Udenna Group of Companies, a highly diversified enterprise that extends from petroleum products and lubricants to shipping, tourism, infrastructure and telecommunications.
Local reports suggest that DITO, its general contractor FutureNet, and UIC have agreed a master service agreement under the terms of which the partners are to build 1,500 telco towers and lay over 1,400 kilometres of fibre optic cables in the next two years.
Having agreed to meet a new technical audit deadline by January 2021, DITO plans to launch as the Philippines’ new third major operator by March 2021. DITO’s ambitious plan involves a spend of around $3.1 billion in its maiden year to set up its network and a five-year investment of close to $5.3 billion for an 84 percent nationwide coverage.
In fact, according to a recent press release from telecom solutions provider Whale Cloud, with which DITO is partnering to develop a next-generation IT system, DITO plans to fast-track the rollout of 5G services in the coming years, with speed offerings ten times faster than those being offered at present.
As we reported in late August, DITO Telecommunity now looks set to be a long-standing contender in the Philippines after the country’s House of Representatives cleared the renewal of its franchise for the next 25 years.
