For telecom customers in the Philippines, the only prominent choices of service provider for quite some time have been PLDT and its mobile arm Smart, or Globe Telecom. It was to stir up the duopoly status quo that the government put forth the bid for a “third telco.” Davao City businessman Dennis Uy answered the challenged by turning Mindanao Islamic Telephone (MISLATEL) into DITO Telecommunity. Their launch of service operations in Visayas and Mindanao this past March plus Luzon the following month proves that DITO really means business. But not all of the Philippines have been covered. DITO is gradually getting to those areas, however.

The Philippine Star has it that new areas of the Philippines are soon coming under commercial coverage of DITO Telecommunity, the better to expand its customer base which has already broken the 2 million mark since their launch in March. The new area coverage were made official every Friday of the week, with 10 areas actually being activated by DITO at the 30th, the last Friday of July. Even more areas will be joining in the new experience this coming August 6, ready to join the 168 cities and municipalities in the country already connected.

To wit, this coming Friday, DITO Telecommunity service will be online at 17 areas, found in Batangas, Cavite, Iloilo, Cebu, Misamis Oriental, Bukidnon, Davao Del Norte, Davao Del Sur, Davao De Oro and South Cotabato. That would bring the total city-municipality coverage of DITO services to a formidable 185, with interested new consumers soon to be able to avail of prepaid purchase and load top-up via 30,000 sales touch-points across the country, plus online venues like the DITO E-Shop, DITO mobile app, Lazada and Shopee. According to DITO chief administrative officer Adel Tamano, the two-million customer mark for the telco was reached in August 1.

DITO Telecommunity has been attracting new users with its promised 27Mbps speed, usable via unlimited data from a P199 load, and unlimited same-network call and text. Time will tell if the third telco gamble to shake up the competition between Globe and PLDT-Smart will stick.

Image courtesy of Rappler