Dito Telecommunity

Dito Telecommunity Corporation (stylized as DITO),[4][5][6] formerly known as Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc. or Mislatel[1][2] is a telecommunications company in the Philippines which is also engaged in the business of multimedia and information technology.[7] It is a consortium of Davao businessman Dennis Uy's Udenna Corporation (through its subsidiary Dito CME Holdings Corporation), and Chinese state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation, a parent company of China Telecom.[8]

Dito Telecommunity
FormerlyMindanao Islamic Telephone Company (1998–2019)
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryTelecommunications
FoundedDavao City, Philippines
April 19, 1998 (1998-04-19)[1][2]
Headquarters
Udenna Tower, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Metro Manila
,
Philippines[3]
Area served
Philippines
Key people
ProductsCall and Text messaging services, Mobile internet
RevenueIncrease PH₱2.3 billion (2021)
Increase PH₱2 billion (2021)
Owner
Websitewww.dito.ph

The consortium is known as the sole winner of the government-sanctioned bidding that would allow the consortium to become the third major telecommunications provider in the Philippines challenging the duopoly of PLDT and Globe Telecom.[9] Dito CME Holdings Corporation (a publicly listed firm also owned by Uy), meanwhile, has an "indirect ownership" in the telco.[8]

Dito Telecommunity began its commercial operations on March 8, 2021.[10][11] As of February 2023, Dito's total mobile subscriber base reached 13.1 million.[12] Dito gave out a free data allocation of 1 gigabyte for each subscriber when it hit a million customers three months after its official rollout.[13]

History

Early years as Mislatel

The Dito Telecommunity's history can be traced back to the establishment of Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc. (Mislatel), which is enacted by Congressional legislation on April 19, 1998, under Republic Act No. 8627, allowing the franchise to construct, install, establish, operate and maintain a telecommunication system throughout the Philippines.[1][2]

Third major telecommunications provider bid
Further information: 2018 Philippine third telecommunications provider bidding

In 2018, it was announced that Mislatel was one of the telecommunication firms to join the government-sanctioned bidding allowing the winner to become the third major telco provider in the Philippines challenging the duopoly of PLDT and Globe.[14] Mislatel became a joint-consortium between Udenna Corporation, its subsidiary Chelsea Logistics, and Chinese state-owned and a parent company of China Telecom, China Telecommunications Corporation.[9][15] The consortium was finally named as the "provisional third major player" by the NTC, beating out two other firms, Sear Telecom consortium and PT&T in the bidding.[9]

The Senate and the House of Representatives approved the transfer of ownership of Mislatel to the latter's consortium.[16][2] In June 2019, the consortium's stakeholders completed a share-purchase agreement with Mislatel, and were then awaiting their permit to operate, tentatively by July 2019.[17][18]

The consortium paid a ₱25.7 billion performance bond to the government as it committed to provide internet service with a speed of 200 megabits per second to more than a third of the population on its first year of operation.[3][19]

Relaunch as Dito
Dito Telecommunity logo (2019–2020)
President Rodrigo Duterte awards the company its Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity.

On July 8, 2019, Mislatel was renamed as Dito Telecommunity.[4][5][6][20][21] Dito was derived from the Filipino word for "here", which is a response to the stakeholders' question on where they plan to set up a firm that would provide a "world class service" with "here" referring to the Philippines, the country where Dito Telecommunity is based in.[20]

Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity issued to the Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc. 8 July 2019
Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity of the company.

At the same date of the announcement of the company's renaming, Dito Telecommunity was granted its permit to operate after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte awarded the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity by the National Telecommunications Commission to its chairman Dennis Uy during a ceremony at the Presidential Palace, Malacañang.[4][5][6]

On September 6, 2019, Dito announced its plans to build its own campus on an 8-hectare (20-acre) lot at Clark Global City. The campus will house the company's own data center and will hold Dito's operational departments, network operations center, servecall center, and regional center. It will also serve as the hub for Dito's research and development in the telecommunications space.[22] Dito began the construction of its campus on April 13, 2021.[23]

In October 2019, Dito signed separate deals with Lopez-owned Sky Cable Corporation and politician Luis Chavit Singson's LCS Group. Under the deal with LCS Group, Dito will lease the shared telco towers that LCS had already built in several areas. While on the other hand of the deal with Sky Cable, Dito will utilize the latter's unused fiber-optic cables in Metro Manila.[24][25]

By March 2020, two months ahead of schedule, the first domestic and international calls from the company's network were made. On July 18, 2020, the company had its technical launch.[26] The technical launch means that the Dito network will be ready for technical audits from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). The company passed its first technical audit in February 2021.[27] As of September 2020, Dito has completed 859 cell sites out of the planned 1,600 sites that will cover 37% of the population.[26]

On February 23, 2021, Dito and PLDT signed an interconnection deal to enable subscribers from the two companies to communicate in their respective networks.[28] Dito and Globe Telecom also signed an interconnetion deal on February 24, 2021.[29]

Start of operations

Dito began its commercial operations on March 8, 2021, in 15 selected areas in Visayas and Mindanao (particularly in Metro Cebu and Metro Davao).[30][11] The company decided to focus on the rollout of its mobile services first,[31] and offered the 4G LTE before moving to 5G technology in 2021.[19][3]

Dito Telecommunity workers selling SIM cards at temporary tent-shops at Glorietta Park, Baliwag, Bulacan in early 2022

From April to May 2021, Dito expanded its services to select areas in Luzon provinces (initially in five provinces covering a total of 18 cities and municipalities) [32] and in Metro Manila.[33] On May 18, 2021, President Duterte signed Republic Act No. 11537, renewing Dito's license for another 25 years and granting the company a franchise to construct, establish, install, maintain and operate wire and/or wireless telecommunications systems in the Philippines.[34][35][36] A few days later, Dito selected Nokia to deploy its 5G services in Mindanao.[37]

On June 29, 2021, Dito announced that it has partnered with non-banking financial firm M Lhuillier to expand the reach of the former's products and services nationwide.[38]

On February 28, 2022, Dito launched its pilot broadband in Metro Manila.[39]

As of July 5, 2023, the service is currently available in 62 out of 82 provinces in the country: 31 in Luzon, 12 in Visayas and 19 in Mindanao.[40][41]

Subscribers

Before the implementation of the SIM Registration Act, Dito had 14 million subscribers in 2022, exceeding the 12-million target subscriber base.[42] As of July 30, 2023, Dito registered 7,740,346 subscribers after unregistered SIM cards were deactivated by virtue of the SIM Registration Act.[43]

Controversies

Complaint against Globe Telecom and Smart Communications

On August 8, 2022, the company filed a complaint against duopolies Globe Telecom and Smart Communications at the Philippine Competition Commission for an alleged "anti-competitive practices" and "abuse of market dominance".[44][45]

On August 9, 2022, Globe Telecom has asked the National Telecommunications Commission to pay the interconnection penalty of ₱622 million to Dito for "breach of agreement".[46]

Complaint against ARTA

In 2022, Dito Chief Administrative Officer Adel Tamano filed a complaint accusing five former officials of the Anti-Red Tape Authority, including Director General Jeremiah Belgica, of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3018) for giving preferential treatment to Now Telecom in a dispute over frequencies.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires, in an order dated October 25, 2022, signed on March 3, 2023, and only publicly released in July, convicted the five of grave misconduct, dismissing them from service, cancelling their civil service eligibility and retirement benefits, and barring them from holding public office.[47][48]

Ownership

The following are the stockholders of Dito Telecommunity (as of November 2020):

Direct Indirect % of stake
Dito Holdings Corporation
(Udenna Corporation)[8]		 Udenna CME (Dito CME)[8]
Chelsea Logistics and Infrastructure[8]		 60%
China Telecommunications Corporation[4][5][6][8] 40%

Radio frequency summary
Frequencies used by DITO Telecommunity
Frequency Protocol Class Band Number Duplex Mode Common Name
700 MHz LTE/LTE-A/LTE-A Pro 4G 28 FDD APT
2100 MHz 1 IMT
2500 MHz 41 TDD BRS
3500 Mhz NR 5G n78 C band

The LTE Carrier Aggregation Combination Bands are LTE B1 (2100 MHz) and LTE B28 (700 MHz) CA_1A_28A.

DITO is the first commercial network in the Philippines to launch 5G in Standalone Mode (SA 5G) and will soon launch Voice over NR (VoNR) Services.

See also

References
  1. Republic Act No. 8627 (April 19, 1998). An Act Granting the Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc. a Franchise to Construct, Establish, Install, Maintain and Operate Wire and/or Wireless Telecommunications Systems in the Philippines. Archived from the original on January 16, 2023. Retrieved September 24, 2022.
  2. "Congress OKs Mislatel's transfer to Dennis Uy-China Telecom group". CNN Philippines. May 23, 2019. Retrieved June 20, 2019.
  3. Rivas, Ralf (February 20, 2020). "DITO Telecom services available by March 2021". Rappler. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  4. "Mislatel, now DITO Telecommunity, is a Filipino-Chinese company which got a permit to operate as 3rd telco". CNN Philippines. July 8, 2019. Archived from the original on April 11, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  5. Balinbin, Arjay L. (July 8, 2019). "Mislatel to rebrand as 'DITO Telecommunity' after getting license". BusinessWorld. Archived from the original on January 16, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  6. Parrocha, Azer (July 8, 2019). "PRRD hands Mislatel Consortium permit to operate as 3rd telco". Philippine News Agency. Archived from the original on July 8, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  7. "DITO.PH | DITO CME Holdings Corp. Company Profile & Executives - WSJ". www.wsj.com. Archived from the original on October 9, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
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  24. Marasigan, Lorenz (October 4, 2019). "DITO Telecom inks deals with Chavit, SkyCable". BusinessMirror. Retrieved January 26, 2020.
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  34. Republic Act No. 11537 (May 18, 2021). AN ACT RENEWING FOR ANOTHER TWENTY-FIVE (25) YEARS THE FRANCHISE GRANTED TO MINDANAO ISLAMIC TELEPHONE COMPANY, INC., PRESENTLY KNOWN AS DITO TELECOMMUNITY CORPORATION, UNDER REPUBLIC ACT NO.8627, ENTITLED “AN ACT GRANTING THE MINDANAO ISLAMIC TELEPHONE COMPANY, INC., A FRANCHISE TO CONSTRUCT, ESTABLISH, INSTALL, MAINTAIN AND OPERATE WIRE AND/OR WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS IN THE PHILIPPINES”. Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
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