DITO Telecommunity chief administrative officer Adel Tamano bullishly stated yesterday (31 January) that the Philippines’ new third telco remains a solid enterprise, despite receiving a blow after controlling shareholder DITO CME Holdings ditched its stock rights offer citing unfavourable market conditions.
As previously reported by TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate, in December 2021 DITO CME Holdings revealed plans to raise PHP8.0 billion-PHP11.3 billion (USD159 million-USD224 million) through the sale of new shares to fund its ongoing challenge to incumbents PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom. DITO CME Holdings planned to offer up to 1.64 billion shares to existing stockholders priced at between PHP4.88 and PHP6.88 per share. With the Philippine Stock Exchange having approved the plan on 10 December, the shares were targeted for listing on 26 January 2022, with China Bank Capital slated to act as sole underwriter for the deal.
Tamano refused to comment directly on DITO CME’s decision, but reiterated that not only is the start-up on course to meet its third technical audit in July, but it has already hit 50% of its twelve million subscriber goal for 2022. ‘Our assessment is that given these indicators, DITO Telecommunity remains a viable and sustainable business as we remain steadfast in our commitment to partner with the Philippine government and our private sector partners to provide world class, affordable, connectivity to Filipinos wherever they may be,’ Tamano is cited as saying.