LIST: DITO will be available in these areas on March 8

MANILA - DITO Telecommunity on Tuesday released the list of cities and nearby municipalities where its services will launch on its debut on March 8.

In a statement, DITO said it is ready for its nationwide rollout. However, commercial activities will be available starting March 8 in key areas in Visayas and Mindanao.

"DITO Telecommunity has conducted a national roll-rollout of its network and is already ready," the third telco said.

Services "will eventually make its way to the rest of the country (located within, of course, the more than 37 percent population coverage) in just a couple of months," it added.

The country's third telco will initially be available in the following areas:

• Carcar
• Cebu City
• Consolacion
• Danao
• Liloan
• Mandaue
• Minglanilla
• Naga
• San Fernando
• Talisay

• Panabo
• Tagum
• Carmen
• Davao City
• Digos

Launching the company's services in Mindanao is a "sentimental" decision to honor its origin, DITO chief administrative officer Adel Tamano earlier said.

DITO was formerly called Mislatel or Mindanao Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company.

• DITO to launch commercially on March 8 starting with Davao, Cebu
• DITO logs speeds of 507 Mbps for 5G, 85 Mbps for 4G; passes audit: NTC

"Ang purpose po ng initial franchise ng DITO was to serve the underserved in Mindanao," Tamano said in a televised public briefing.

"Kaya naisip po namin na maganda, ang unang commercial rollout po namin hindi po sa Manila, kundi po sa Mindanao, specifically Davao, at sa Visayas na rin po."

(That's why we thought it would be good that our first commercial rollout would not be in Manila, but Mindanao, specifically Davao, as well as Visayas.)

The telco, operated by Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy with China Telecom, passed its first technical audit after registering minimum internet speed of 507.5 Mbps for 5G and 85.9 Mbps for 4G, the National Telecommunications Commission had said.

The new telco covered 37.5 percent of the country's population, reaching 8,860 barangays, the technical audit showed.