DITO Telecommunity, a joint venture of Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy and China Telecoms, on Thursday informed the National Telecommunications Commission of its readiness for the technical audit on its committed level of service.
The country’s third major telecom player said the 30-day audit began on Jan. 7, 2021.
DITO said the independent auditor was chosen from the latest list of accredited auditing firms under Group A of the Securities and Exchange Commission and appointed in accordance with the procedure under the rules and regulation on the selection process of the new major player (MC 09-09-2018).
The chosen independent auditor, R.G. Manabat & Co. (an affiliate of KPMG, an international audit firm) is set to test the connectivity and internet speeds in various areas to ensure that DITO complies with its requirement to cover 37 percent of the population and provide a minimum average internet speed of 27 megabits per second.
“For the past months, amid the difficulties posed by the current global pandemic, DITO has made great strides in the roll-out to ensure that the results of the audit will be positive,” said Atty. Adel Tamano, DITO Telecommunity chief administrative officer.
The field test is expected to be completed within 30-days, while another 15 days will be needed to prepare the final report. It will use a percentage of the identified 1,600 sites that covers 8,800 barangays in the Philippines as base for the audit.
Tamano said the results of the audit would not affect the planned commercial roll-out starting March 2021.
“As I have said before, DITO Telecommunity is poised to finally offer its services to the Filipino people in March, world-class connectivity that they truly deserve, as we launch commercially,” he said.
DITO said it has about 1,900 base stations which the company said were more than enough to satisfy the minimum 37-percent population coverage that the company needed to meet for technical audit.
The company spent over P150 billion for the initial rollout of its infrastructure and other operating expenses. It is a part of its commitment to invest P250 billion over a five-year period to achieve 55 mbps of internet speed, covering 84 percent of the population.