The third market entrant in the Philippines, DITO, has signed tower sharing agreements with Leo Technologies Infrastructure Corp and Alt-Global-Solutions Inc.
Formerly known as Mislatel, DITO is a consortium made up of Chelsea Logistics Corp, China Telecom, and Udenna Corp. Previously, the company has signed deals with China Energy Equipment, LCS Holdings, SkyCable and ZEAL Power Construction and Development to roll out cell sites across the country.
Speaking to The Manila Standard, DITO’s chief administrative officer Adel Tamano said: “For the past few months, we have been pushing hard to have on board like-minded partners who are as committed as we are in making sure that we provide world-class telecommunications services to the Filipino; and would like to assure our countrymen that yes, DITO is very well on its way to provide faster, more affordable, and secure telecom services.”
Earlier this month, CommsUpdate reported DITO’s stated goal of capturing 30% of the local mobile market within three years of launch, which would be a huge shakeup to the Philippines’ duopoly. DITO Chief Technology Officer Rodolfo D Santiago confirmed that the operator plans to launch 4G services from Q2 2020, and expects to transition to 5G at some point in 2021.
DITO’s licence obliges it to extend minimum 27Mbps mobile broadband to 37% of the country’s population in its first year of operation. It aims to achieve this on capex of PHP150 billion (USD2.89 billion) – a figure that will rise to PHP257 billion by its fifth year, by which time it will have achieved 84% population coverage.
