The Department of Information and Communications Technology said on Wednesday DITO Telecommunity Corp., a joint venture of businessman Dennis Uy and China Telecoms, is on track to roll out telecom services by July this year.
“DICT was concerned about the capability of DITO to fulfill its commitments as July is six-months away,” DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan II said.
“However, based on our discussions, I am satisfied that given the updates by the three top executives, DITO is on its way to deliver on its promise of cheaper and more efficient service to the subscribing public,” he added.
Honasan called the meeting in view of the impending July 2020 government-mandated deadline for the initial commitments of the country’s third major telecommunications player.
Among the updates reported to DICT were tower building activities, secured deals for infrastructure development, construction updates on network operations centers, rollout of crucial infrastructure, as well as projected timetables.
“As we have been assuring the public, we are on track to meet our year-one commitment to the government and to the Filipino people to provide world-class telecommunications services,” DITO chief administrative officer Adel Tamano said.
Honasan advised DITO to keep the DICT abreast on all developments as the DICT is looking into ensuring that DITO delivers the promised 55mbps internet speed and the more than 80-percent coverage of the population within the mandated five-year period.
DITO Telecommunity in July received its certificate of public convenience and necessity from the National Telecommunications Commission to operate as the third major telco.
The company vowed to invest P257 billion over a five-year period, including P150 billion in its first year of operations.
The group committed to provide 27 megabits per second of internet speed in its first year, and 55 mbps in five years.
The company plans to cover 84 percent of the population in five years and 34 percent in its first year of operation.