DITO CME Holdings Corp. (DITO) said its telecommunications unit DITO Telecommunity Corp. is setting aside up to P30 billion for capital expenditures (capex) this year, mainly for network rollout, the company’s top official said.

“Our capex guidance should be anywhere between P25 billion and P30 billion,” Ernesto R. Alberto, DITO CME president and chief executive officer, told reporters last week.

The company is focusing on gaining its market share and commercial rollout, he said.

“We will be coming up with exciting new, differentiated products both on connectivity and broadband, mobile data, or fixed wireless.”

The company plans to launch products relevant to large, medium, and small enterprises, Mr. Alberto said.

“These are new commercial activities we are banking on in our desire to monetize the billions of dollars of investments we have in the past years,” he said.

Further, Mr. Alberto said that the company is still in discussions regarding its planned fundraising. 

In 2023, the company announced that it would hold another fundraising to secure financing for DITO Telecommunity’s projects. 

Last year, DITO Telecommunity had a commitment to allot P27 billion for capex to expand its coverage.

“Discussions are continuing, as you know telco business is capital intensive. The amounts that we have seen so far are not sufficient to make a formidable telco play in this country,” he said. 

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DITO Telecommunity has a commitment to cover 84% of the population this year.

“Our priority is to complete the 84%, then audit. Our aspiration is at the end of the year, 84% brand new network rollout,” he said.

Currently, the telecommunications company has about 10 million subscribers which Mr. Alberto said is about 10% of the market. 

“We are already 10 million now, with the sheer strength of our network we manage 10 million. If we have overall 100 million [registered users] after the SRA (SIM Registration Act) then we are at 10%. For us, the rightful share is 15-20%,” he added. 

The company is targeting to at least obtain 15-20% of the market by the end of the year, Mr. Alberto said. 

“Our aspiration is by the end of the year,” he said. — Ashley Erika O. Jose

 

Note: This story has been updated to specify that the mentioned capex is for DITO Telecommunity, a unit of DITO CME.

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