Dito claims dented duopolist market

DITO Telecommunity Corp. said on Tuesday it has started disrupting the telco industry and has broken the duopolistic market, citing a report from monitoring firm Ookla LLC.

Dito Chief Administrative Officer Adel A. Tamano said the report showed that Dito “has already made a dent in the dominance” of the two mobile network operators, Smart Communications Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc.

The report noted that Dito’s aggressive offers has pushed the industry to improve its 4G and 5G services.

With its entry, Dito helped in driving the median download speeds of 4G from 11.5 Mbps to 15.53 Mbps in the first quarter of 2022, Tamano said, citing the Ookla report.

Tamano said Dito’s “strong performance” is driven by its aggressive investments in network roll out as well as its collaboration with regulators and local government units.

“This is just the beginning,” Tamano said. “With our commitment to delivering quality telco services nationwide, Filipino consumers can expect more from DITO as we remain committed to continue our investment in network upgrades and expansion.”

For 2022, DITO has earmarked P50 billion to reach more Filipinos. It aims to be commercially available in more than 840 areas nationwide by the end of the year. Currently, Dito is present in 600 cities and municipalities across the Philippines.

Tamano said he is confident that the market “will witness full-blown competition among telco operators once DITO covers 70 percent of the population this July,” a schedule that is part of its mandate stipulated in the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity by the National Telecommunications Commission in 2019.

“We are confident that Dito can go head-to-head with the other two major players as penetrating more areas means we capture more share in the market. In the process, Filipino consumers will benefit from this increased competition, with companies racing to provide the best connectivity and the best value for services,” Tamano said.

Dito has since reached the 9-million subscriber mark and is “wellpositioned to hit 12 million” by the end of the year.