DITO no comment on Duterte tirade vs. Globe, Smart; reiterates on-track for March 2021 launch

Third telco player DITO Telecommunity Corp. reiterated on Tuesday that it is on track to have its commercial launch or the onboarding of subscribers by March 2021.

This, after President Rodrigo Duterte called on dominant telecommunications players Smart Communications and Globe Telecom to improve their services by December or else their properties will be expropriated.

“We cannot speak for what the President has mentioned in his State of the Nation Address yesterday,” DITO chief administrative officer Adel Tamano said in a statement.

“As far as DITO Telecommunity is concerned, we all share the concern of the President for the need to provide world class connectivity to the Filipino people, especially in the face of the pandemic,” he said.

The shares of DITO surged Tuesday morning while those of its rivals plunged following the President's statement.

DITO Telecom shares opened Tuesday at P2.81 apiece, up by 5.63% from Monday's finish of P2.66 per share, and have so far registered an intraday high of P2.88, up 8.27%.

Shares are trading at P2.84, up P0.180 or 6.77% as of 10:47 a.m. on Tuesday, July 28, 2020.

On the other hand, incumbents Globe Telecom Inc. and PLDT Inc. opened Tuesday's session down over 1%.

Shares of Ayala-led Globe opened at P2,000 apiece, also its intraday high so far, down by 0.49% from Monday's close of P2,010.00.

DITO, formerly Mislatel Consortium, was awarded its permit to operate as the third telecommunications player of the country on July 8, 2019.

The consortium is made up of Davao businessman Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corporation, Udenna's subsidiary Chelsea Logistics Holdings Inc., and Chinese state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation.

Tamano said DITO is currently working on meeting the 27 megabits per second and 37% coverage in time for the government technical audit come January of 2021.

DITO’s technical audit was supposed to be on July 8, but the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) extended the July technical audit on DITO due to the delay caused by the COVID-19 crisis.

Under the current extension, DITO is given within six months to deliver the commitments for the technical audit requirements, which is to provide a speed of 27 megabits per second to cover 37% percent of the population.

“As DITO Telecommunity hastens its roll-out in time for the March 2021, let me assure the Filipino people that we recognize the clamor for the third major telco to already go on-air,” Tamano said.

“DITO is doing all it can to work through the challenges, move forward, and launch soonest,” he said.

Under the provisions of the DITO’s Certificate of Public Convenience and  Necessity, the company must meet its voluntary commitments every year for the first five years of operations, else lose its P24 billion performance bond.—AOL, GMA News