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Telecommunications startup Dito Telecommunity made its anticipated business debut on Monday, promising to provide a “better option” to Filipinos and signaling a new era in the local telecommunications industry.
With its commercial launch, paid subscribers can start using the company’s mobile services such as Internet, text messaging, and calling.
The company’s launch program was streamed online and was attended by Dito officials, including CEO Dennis Uy and counterparts from strategic partner China Telecom, Information and Communications Secretary Gregorio Honasan II, National Commission Commissioner of Telecommunications Gamaliel Córdoba and the vice mayor of the city of Davao, Sebastián Duterte.
Dito’s first clients will be 3,000 frontline people in Davao and nine other cities in Mindanao and Visayas, where Dito made its commercial launch, Managing Director Adel Tamano said Monday.
They will be allowed free use of Dito services with SIM cards and free phones.
Dito limited its launch to 15 areas in Metro Cebu and Davao. Tamano said other areas, such as Metro Manila, would follow in a few weeks and Dito has prepared at least 1 million SIM cards to be distributed or sold as it opens in new locations.
The company’s opening salvo against rivals PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom was a P199 promotion until the end of March 2021 for unlimited talk, text and mobile internet within the Dito network.
The company is also working to fully interconnect its network with PLDT and Globe in the coming weeks as well.
Dito, owned by Uy’s Udenna Group and China Telecom, was selected as the third major telecom player in 2018 under then-Secretary of Information and Communications Eliseo Rio Jr. and was part of the Duterte administration’s push to introduce a new telecom competition. .
“The launch of the new player, Dito Telecommunity, is an important development in the telecommunications sector that has long been governed by incumbent operators,” said the Chairman of the Philippine Competition Commission, Arsenio Balisacan, in a statement. .
“Let the competition run its course to see how the telecommunications race will result in competitive prices and raise the level of connectivity, quality and overall coverage in the country,” he added.
During his remarks Monday, Uy said the launch served as a vindication against his detractors.
“We stood up to the Senate, Congress, and our regulators, knowing full well that a good number of people thought we would eventually fail. They were wrong. Here we are, ”said Uy.
This comes even as concerns persist over Dito’s business viability and partner China Telecom’s security risks amid a broader territorial dispute in the Western Philippine Sea.
Dito is tied to a five-year commitment period with the government until 2024 and Uy said they saw the business as a long-term public service with no shortcuts to profitability.
“It was never about making a quick buck,” Oops said. “We knew it was a long-term commitment and if we kept our promises, the business would flourish.”
During the launch, Honasan said that a lot was expected of the telecommunications startup.
“People have unobstructed connectivity services, quality Internet and responsive service,” he said Monday.
Dito said that internet speeds would start at a low average of 27 megabits per second, and would climb to 55 Mbps in mid-2021 through 2024.
—With a report from Roy Stephen Canivel INQ
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