By March 8, residents in some parts of Visayas and Mindanao may sign up as Dito Telecommunity’s first batch of subscribers, with nationwide services expected to be announced after a couple of months.
The telco network owned by Dennis Uy, a businessman from Davao, announced it is ready to onboard new users of its mobile network in two weeks, but SIM cards will only be made available to Cebu, Davao, and 15 other towns and cities.
“There’s a sentimental reason to that, because if you recall, before Dito became Dito, we were the Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company,” said Dito chief administrative officer Adel Tamano in a briefing on Tuesday, making reference to the parent firm prior to the joint venture with China Telecom.
“It’s a launch that will move in waves,” he added. “Actually, before June, we will already be available throughout the country.”
The launch was initially scheduled in July 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic.
According to Tamano, the commercial rollout set two Mondays from now would be more of a “CSR” event, saying there won’t be any celebrity endorsers to carry the brand.
“We’d rather spend on towers and network than on K-Pop stars,” said Tamano.
Its rivals Smart and Globe have hired top acts like BTS and Blackpink to get more subscribers ahead of Dito’s launch.
