NTC gives Dito Telecom six more months to meet commitments

Dito Telecommunity Corp., backed by Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy, has been given a six-month extension to satisfy its commitments to the government, which the company will unlikely meet by the July 8 deadline.

According to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), its attached agency the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has issued a resolution to extend the July 2020 technical audit on Dito.

"In relation to the delay caused by the COVID-19 crisis, the NTC issued a resolution extending the July 2020 technical audit under the CPCN provisions," the DICT said.

"Under the current extension, DITO is given within six (6) months to deliver the commitments for the technical audit requirements- that is to provide a speed of 27 megabits per second to cover 37% percent of the population," it added.

It was referring to the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) which was awarded to Dito on July 8, 2019.

Under the provisions of the CPCN, Dito must meet its voluntary commitments every year for the first five years of operations, else lose its P24 billion performance bond.

In its commitments, Dito vowed to provide a minimum speed of 27 megabits per second and achieve a nationwide coverage of 37.03% in its first year of operations which will be next Wednesday, July 8.

To achieve a 37% network coverage, Dito said it will have to put up a total of 1,300 cellular towers across the country.

On Wednesday, Dito said it has 1,300 towers in construction, but only 300 of which are already live, giving difficulty to meet the July 8 deadline.

"Most of the scheduled material supplies from China such as fiber cables, DC containers, base stations, towers, and telecom ancillaries failed to arrive as scheduled causing delays in the roll-out," the DICT said.

The DICT clarified, however, that only the technical audit schedule was moved and Dito chief administrative officer Adel Tamano assured that the commercial launch will proceed in March 2021.

"In a report to the DICT on its current progress, DITO Telecommunity is on track for its March 2021 commercial launch," it said.

"According to DITO, they reported the successful series of local and international test phone calls made, with the last of the first test calls made on 27 March 2020 - almost two (2) months earlier than the May 2020 milestone as stated in the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) granted to them by the government," added the DICT.

The Dito consortium is made up of Uy's Udenna Corporation, Udenna's subsidiary Chelsea Logistics Holdings Inc., and Chinese state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation. — RSJ, GMA News