DCME upbeat amid growing broadband consumption, 5G adoption

Amid the continuous rollout of 4G and 5G broadband services through its telco subsidiary DITO Telecommunity, holding company DITO CME is optimistic that rising data consumption and broadband use will continue to drive revenue growth for the industry.

DCME President Eric Alberto points to a Moody’s report that gave a stable outlook to Asia Pacific’s telecommunications sector over the next 12-18 months, which in part will be driven by the early gains from 5G adoption.

“As we transition to a digital world, where consumers will move from 4G to 5G, we would like to think that we are getting the better end and the higher number of customers into our services,” Alberto said.

This was echoed by DCME’s Chief Financial Officer Joseph Ong, saying, “It is just a matter of time before everyone transitions to 5G and we are talking about speeds reaching 100mbps. When that happens, we are the only ones with a fully ready 5G network.”

He further noted that the company is targeting a 90% coverage of 5G technology in the next couple of years.

This global transition towards 5G technology and the growing need for data consumption give DCME the capability to advance its services in the country. This is reflected in its massive investment in its other digital businesses like Luna Academy, an online learning platform that provides industry-relevant, & widely accessible future-ready skills training, Unalytics, an advanced analytics solutions provider, and Acuity Global, a media solutions company.

DITO Telecommunity now has over 4,100 cellular towers, with over 4,000 more under construction, and coverage in more than 500 cities and municipalities across Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Furthermore, it has now more than 5 million subscribers since its commercial launch in less than a year.

The telco also invested Php4 billion for its submarine cable project, which would minimize network faults and provide better services to users.

DITO CME is also raising a minimum of Php8 billion from a stock rights offering to provide better mobile experience to customers and fund its network rollout.