DITO CME Holdings Corp. on Wednesday said its subsidiary DITO Telecommunity Corp. should turn a profit by 2028 as its telco unit expand its coverage nationwide.
At the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting, DITO CME president Eric Alberto also said DITO Telecommunity is confident of making it past the fourth annual technical audit of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) scheduled this month.
The upcoming audit requires the telco to achieve a minimum network population cover of 80 percent and deliver a minimum broadband speed of 55 Mbps over the 4G broadcast standard, Alberto said.
Last year, DITO passed its third annual technical audit with a national population cover of 72.39 percent and average broadband speed (MABS) delivered at 71.77 percent Mbps and 801.19 Mbps for all 4G and 5G sites, respectively.
As part of conditions imposed by its certificate of public convenience and necessity, DITO commits to deliver a national population cover of 70.01 percent and MABS of 55 Mbps on the third year of operations.
Alberto also said DITO is now present in more than 810 cities and municipalities nationwide and has gained over 17 million subscribers in just a little over two years since its commercial launch in March of 2021.
He said the company constructed more than 7,000 cell towers and more than 38,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables nationwide.
On the basis of this dev and elopement and given DITO Tel’s business plan, the telco is looking at EBTDA breakeven by 2025 “if it continues to endeavor onwards to achieve net profitability by end of 2028,” Alberto said.
DITO CME, the operator of DITO Telecommunity, booked a net loss of P11.24 billion in 2022, up from P9.67 billion in 2021 due to high operating expenses of its telco business.
Dennis Uy, DITO CME chairman and chief executive, said China Telecom remains a strong and steadfast partner of DITO Telecommunity.
Uy said both companies continue to work hand and hand in providing world class telco services to the Filipino consumers.
The company spent over P150 billion for the initial rollout of its infrastructure and other operating expenses as part of its commitment to invest P250 billion over a five-year period to achieve 55 mbps of internet speed, covering 84 percent of the population.
