The Philippines’ New Major Player (NMP) or ‘third telco’, DITO Telecommunity Corp (formerly Mislatel), has struck separate common tower sharing agreements with Leo Technologies Infrastructure Corp and Alt-Global-Solutions Inc, as it seeks to accelerate the rollout of mobile services nationwide. DITO, a joint venture of Filipino businessman Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corp, Chelsea Logistics Corp and China Telecom, reportedly inked separate memoranda of agreement with the two companies vis-a-vis the provision of common towers, in-building solutions and rooftop tower construction services, The Manila Standard reports. ‘For the past few months, we have been pushing hard to have on board like-minded partners who are as committed as we are in making sure that we provide world-class telecommunications services to the Filipino; and would like to assure our countrymen that yes, DITO is very well on its way to provide faster, more affordable, and secure telecom services’, the NMP’s chief administrative officer Adel Tamano is quoted as saying. Earlier, DITO selected SkyCable, Chavit Singson’s LCS Holdings, China Energy Equipment and ZEAL Power Construction and Development to build out more cell sites across the Philippines.
As previously reported by CommsUpdate, earlier this month the new third telco threw down the gauntlet to PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom, stating its aim to secure 30% of the domestic mobile market in its first three years of operations. In a statement, DITO Chief Technology Officer Rodolfo D Santiago confirmed the newcomer’s ambitious targets which would see it first offer 4G LTE services from Q2 2020, before moving to the more advanced 5G technology, possibly sometime in 2021. Under the terms of its licence award, the newcomer is required to cover around 37% of the Philippines with a minimum mobile broadband speed of 27Mbps in year one, through a PHP150 billion (USD2.89 billion) capital expenditure outlay, rising to 84% by year five, by which time it has committed to spend a total of PHP257 billion.