Quarantine delays Dito construction of more cell sites
DITO Telecommunity Corp., the country’s third major telecommunications company, stands to lose its P25.7-billion performance bond should it fail to meet its commitments.
A week before its technical launch, Dito Chief Administrative Officer Adel Tamano said during a Senate hearing on Wednesday that the telco only had 300 operational cell sites to date.
Sen. Mary Grace Poe discussed Senate Resolution 435 on the availability and accessibility of cell sites for internet connectivity across the country authored by Sen. Emmanuel Pacquiao, and Senate Bill 471 requiring internet service providers to deliver a minimum standard for internet speed by Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto.
In November 2019, the senator urged the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to ensure that Dito Telecommunity delivers on its commitment to improve internet speed and coverage through the construction of 2,500 cell sites by July 2020.
“For now, we must capitalize on the current consensus that we need better internet ASAP (as soon as possible),” said Poe, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Services.
Tamano said Dito needed 1,300 sites to meet the technical launch requirement to cover 37 percent of the Philippine population and provide a minimum average internet speed of 27 megabits per second.
He blamed the delay to movement restrictions caused by quarantine measures imposed from mid-March until the end of May 2020 to halt the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19)
“The Covid and the lockdowns have prevented us from our full rollout,” Tamano said. A missed deadline for Dito indicates the company would be left with no choice but to ask for a grace period from the DICT.
Former DICT undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr., who was a resource person at the Senate hearing, said this meant the company had exhausted one of the two grace periods on meeting rollout targets under its franchise.
The bidding terms of reference allows a grace period in case Dito fails to meet its deadlines.
Section 14 of the terms of reference state that Dito will be allowed two grace periods of six months each within the five-year commitment period.
Once the company hits strike three, Rio said the government could forfeit the P25.7-billion performance bond Dito paid and recall the assigned radio frequencies.
“As far as I know, they (Dito) have not requested for any postponement of that commitment. But, definitely, they are saying they could not have the 1,300 finished by July 8. If they cannot comply by July 8, then that is their strike one,” he added.