DITO a Filipino company, says exec amid China spying fears

Telecommunications duopoly challenger DITO Telecommunity Corp. on Tuesday said it is a Filipino company, allaying concerns that its partnership with a Chinese state-owned firm would make the Philippines vulnerable to spying by Beijing.

“It is run by Filipinos and the officers are Filipino, the employees are Filipino,” said DITO chief administrative officer Adel Tamano at a Palace news conference.

“It is a Filipino country and therefore we will never allow any espionage or anything that will be negative to our national security to happen to our operations.”

DITO had earlier said it would spend P1 billion for its cybersecurity initiatives amid concerns of espionage in relation to its co-location of cell sites with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

The company also said it had tapped US cybersecurity firms for its planned cybersecurity center.

DITO, formerly Mislatel Consortium, was awarded a permit to operate as the third telecommunications player of the country in July last year.

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.

The company committed to cover 84% of the Philippine population and offer a minimum average speed of at least 55 megabits per second (Mbps) by the end of its commitment in five years.

“That is our government commitment. But internally, we are going for 90% within five years. So, those areas that have no mobile coverage, DITO will serve those areas,” Tamano said.

In September, DITO reported that it had constructed a total of 859 towers, more than half of the 1,300 towers needed to achieve the mandated goal of 37% of population coverage and 27 Mbps internet speed by January 2021.

DITO Telecommunity is expected to roll out commercial services in March 2021.

Its franchise is set to expire in 2023.

“We are quite confident that Congress will see the wisdom of granting us a franchise extension before our commercial launch,” Tamano said.

“I believe it will be most fair for Filipinos, especially the Filipino consumers who will [be] buying our shares and will be investing in our service to be assured that our franchise will continue and that our business will be viable since it is based on that franchise.”—AOL, GMA News