DITO Telecommunity aims to double its subscriber base to 28M in 2023

DITO Telecommunity Corp. on Tuesday said it targets to double its subscriber base to 28 million in 2023, having already reached 74% of the population.

“We are at about 74% population coverage, so we expect that more people will benefit from DITO services,” DITO Chief Technology Officer Rodolfo D. Santiago told reporters during a gathering in Taguig City.

DITO currently has 14 million customers, exceeding its 2022 target of 12 million.

“We want to double that, at least double,” DITO Chief Administrative Officer Adel A. Tamano said.

The third telco player has also built more than 6,000 towers across the country, according to Mr. Santiago.

“What we want to do now is improve the customer experience,” he noted.

The company plans to distribute free subscriber identity modules (SIMs) and additional data starting Dec. 27 to encourage users to register, as required by the SIM Card Registration Act, or Republic Act No. 11934.

The law, which took effect on Oct. 28, intends to regulate the registration and use of SIMs by requiring registration with mobile service providers as a prerequisite to activation.

Mr. Tamano said DITO will do its “best to make the registration process as simple and painless as possible.”

The company spent P50 billion for its capital expenditures this year and expects to spend around P27 billion next year.

DITO also expects to be “cashflow positive” next year and profitable by 2024.

DITO CME Holdings Corp., the telco’s parent company, saw its attributable net loss for the third quarter widen to P5.9 billion from a loss of P3.3 billion previously, mainly due to higher expenses despite a surge in revenues.

For the nine months that ended Sept. 30, DITO CME’s attributable net loss jumped to P14.2 billion from a loss of P5.3 billion in 2021.

“This was mainly due to higher operating expenses and higher other charges offset by gross revenue generated from the start of DITO Telecommunity Corp.’s commercial operations since March 8, 2021,” DITO CME said. — Arjay L. Balinbin