DITO Telecommunity Corp., the joint venture between Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy and China Telecom on Monday commercially launched its mobile services in Visayas and Mindanao. 

“Mission accomplished,” DITO chief technology officer Rodolfo Santiago said, during  its  virtual commercial launch. 

“As we begin our commercial launch, all I can say is that there’s more work to be done and together we will succeed and make a difference in transforming the landscape of Philippine telecommunications,” he added. 

Initially, DITO will be available in 10 key cities in Metro Cebu – Carcar, Cebu City, Consolacion, Danao, Liloan, Mandaue, Minglanilla, Naga, San Fernando and Talisay – and five key cities in Metro Davao – Panabo, Tagum, Carmen, Davao City and Digos.

The company plans to commercially rollout its mobile services in Metro Manila in the second quarter of the year. 

For its “welcome promo”  DITO is offering unlimited data, DITO calls, and DITO-to-DITO texts for its new subscribers that will run from March 8 to March 31 for only P199. 

DITO chief administrative officer Adel Tamano said the “real competition” has now enter this country with the commercial launch of DITO.

“Before we launch, you see our competitor is already scrambling, lowering its prices which we love. We love it that they are doing that, because the reason we enter this market was to compete and it is just to show yout hat they could have offer those things along time ago. I’m glad that they are doing it now,” he added. 

DITO promised to offer 37 Mbs Internet speed to 37 percent of the country’s population on its first year of operations and 55 Mbps speed to 51 percent of the population on its second year. 

The company also plans to offer fixed broadband services to the home in the next two years. 

Dennis Uy, chairman of DITO said the launching of DITO “was never about of making a fast buck.” 

“We knew it was a long term commitment and if we deliver on our promise then the business will flourish. We need  to be patient,” Uy added. 

The company targets to get 30 percent of the telco market “as soon as possible,” according to Santiago. 

” Thirty percent of the market share is more than enough to make profit,” he added. 

Gringo Honasan Jr., secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology said DITO’s goal had always been to break the telecommunications duopoly in the market and boost healthy competition and advance growth. 

“Now, after overcoming hurdles and passing the technical audit of your first year of roll-out, we hope that this commercial rollout would bring about welcome dynamism to the current Philippine telecom industry. Truly, this launching represents a big boost in digital connectivity services for the Filipino people,” he added. 
Arsenio Balisacan, chairman of Philippine Competition Commission said the  launch of the new player, DITO Telecommunity, is a major development in the telco sector that has long been ruled by dominant incumbents. 

“Let competition run its course to see how the telco race will result in competitive pricing and raise the level of overall connectivity, quality, and coverage in the country,” Balisacan said. 

“This development resonates with the aspirations of every connected Filipino, and opens the door for policymakers to consider other reforms such as the easing of foreign equity restrictions, push for open access and common towers, and prevention of exclusivity arrangements in last-mile internet service,” he added. 

Balisacan said the PCC will monitor the market behavior of the players to ensure they compete on fair terms, and will continue to advocate for pro-competition measures in the telco sector.