Following reports late last year that Philippines telecommunications company DITO had hit its target of five million subscriptions before the end of 2021 in the nine months since its commercial launch in March, recent announcements suggest that the company is aiming even higher.
The joint venture, 40 percent owned by China Telecom, said last week that it was on track to double its subscribers this year. The most recent subscriber figure is now about 5.3 million.
This expansion effort will involve a massive investment estimated at $1 billion a year. This will largely be used to expand coverage – a tough ask in a country made up of over 7,500 islands a country of more than 110 million people. The main coverage need is said to be thousands of telecoms towers.
According to Reuters, Dito is hoping to book profits by 2026 – that’s five years into its operations. DITO was the sole qualified bid at an auction for a third license in the Philippines after government attempts to improve the mobile sector in which poor service quality has been an issue. The other two networks, Globe and Smart, have been the target of criticism from the country's president.
DITO is required to be able to reach 84 percent of the population and offer fast mobile internet by 2024.
