ECQ Forces 3rd Telco DITO To Scale Down Its Luzon Rollout

Written by Marc Adrian

The up and coming 3rd telco was forced to slow down their network infrastructure rollout in Metro Manila and Luzon due to the Enhanced Community Quarantine. While they haven’t halted building their network and the construction of their infrastructure has ramped up outside Luzon, the rest of the infrastructure work in NCR have been scaled down and shifted its focus to work that can be done remotely and safely.

DITO chief administrative officer Adel Tamano said in a statement:

The DITO Telecommunity rollout is continuing as best as we can during this COVID19 pandemic and is currently assessing how best to proceed with the mandated technical launch in July of 2020.

The company was scheduled to have its technical launch in July 2020. The technical launch means the start of internal monitoring of its commitment to provide services to 37 percent of the country’s population with a minimum average speed of 27 megabits per second during its first year of operations. By the end of its fifth year, DITO promised to cover 84 percent of the Philippines and offer a minimum average speed of at least 55 Mbps.

Meanwhile, the rollout of commercial services to the public can come as late as March 2021. The technical launch is simply the start of their infrastructure construction to set up the foundations for their services and establish coverage in areas they promised to cover. Metro Manila and urban areas in Luzon are key markets in ensuring DITO meets its population coverage targets.

Tamano also assured the public that they are very much aware of the pressing need for world-class connectivity that Filipinos truly deserve which this global pandemic has made even more evident.

Should DITO miss its target date to roll out its infrastructure, the Information, and Communications Technology Undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr. reminded DITO that they may not invoke force majeure or protection due to unforeseen events like the COVID-19 pandemic.

The terms of their bidding on the hand stipulated a grace period in case of a delay in the roll out. Under Section 14 of the terms of reference, DITO is provisioned with two grace periods of six months each within the five-year commitment period.

Should  DITO fail to meet its commitments, the national government can legally seize its P25.7 billion performance bond and recall assigned radio frequencies.’

[Source]