Third telco preparations on track amid COVID-19 crisis, says DICT

MANILA, Philippines — The preparations of third major telco, Dito Telecommunity, for commercial operation is on track despite the crisis triggered by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, according to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

DICT Undersecretary for Operations Eliseo Rio Jr. said Thursday that the company has not relayed any concerns on possible delay to meet its commitments especially with the enhanced community quarantine being imposed in Luzon until April 30.

“Ibig sabihin po nyan is (That means they are) on track sila even with this emergency situation that we are having now. That means (that on) July 8 of this year, ‘yung (the) NTC will measure ‘yung kanilang commitment nila sa kanilang proposal noon (their commitment in their earlier proposal) that’s why they’re selected,” he said in an interview with dzMM.

Dito Telecommunity has committed a speed of 27 megabits per second and the capability to cover at least 37,390,372 end-users in 7,425 barangays or over 37.03 percent of the population in the first year of their five-year roll-out.

“Hindi pa po sila magko-commercial operation, that will come as they said for March 31, 2021 pero ‘yung commitment nila me-measurin na po ‘yan sa July 8,” added Rio.

(They will not have commercial operations yet, which will come as they said for March 31, 2021 but their commitments will be measured on July 8.)

The DICT official added that the building of infrastructure of the third telco also continues despite the ECQ, citing that those offering telecommunication services are also considered as frontliners.

“Pwede silang lumakbay (They can travel) to do their business being a frontliner company,” he explained.

EDV