DITO Telecommunity, the official third major telecom provider in the Philippines as empowered by the government to shake up the status quo between PLDT-Smart and Globe Telecom, has been around for quite a while now. But it was only last month that its services finally became available for customers after a preliminary period of setting up their infrastructure. And even then it was a limited launch happening only to key locations in the Visayas and Mindanao. Luzon has been waiting for DITO to show its stuff for quite a while. And now, about a month since their launch, the third telco is ready for Luzon.

CNN Philippines has it that DITO Telecommunity has officially begun offering commercial telecom services to customers in Luzon, as of this Friday, April 16. The telco’s chief administrator Adel Tamano announced the good news, saying in a statement, “We are very excited to announce that in just a few weeks after our commercial launch in Cebu and Davao, more Filipinos can now experience stronger and reliable connectivity with DITO’s Luzon expansion.” DITO commercial services have thus been added to 21 more cities and municipalities across the country, in key provinces of Regions III and IV-A.

The initial launch of DITO last March 8 rolled out commercial service in 15 Vis-Min communities. With the added sites especially in Luzon, the third telecom provider is on track to cover 37% of the Philippine population within their first year of operations. A broadband speed of 27 Mbps is no mean thing to achieve.

DITO Telecommunity’s new service areas are as follows: Cabanatuan, Palayan, Santa Rosa, Muñoz and Talavera in Nueva Ecija; Capas, Conception, Gerona and Tarlac City in Tarlac; Baliuag, Lipa, Malvar, Santo Tomas and Tanauan in Batangas; Tagaytay and Silang in Cavite; and Los Baños and Calamba in Laguna. There are actually three other areas in Visayas and Mindanao under DITO coverage: Compostela and Cordova in Cebu; and GenSan in South Cotabato.

Adding new coverage areas will only serve to justify the case for DITO to have its franchise renewed for another 25 years, with the company having opened in 1998 as Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company (Mislatel). Their current franchise expires 2023. Thankfully Congress has approved the license renewal back in March, and it only awaits President Rodrigo Duterte to sign it.

Image from YugaTech

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