THIRD telco player DITO Telecommunity Corporation (Dito) will be putting up 175 telecommunication towers in Davao City for its technical launch set on July this year, an information and communication technology official said.

Department of Information and Communication Technology (Dict) Mindanao Cluster 3 regional director Erlito Tancontian said contractors of Dito are in the process of site survey and acquisition.

“The government property is one of their considerations so mag co-location sila. On the process pa sila karon og site acquisition. Naa nay nasugdan sa Brgy. Angliongto (They are now in the process of site acquisition and they have started in Angliongto village),” he said.

The towers of Dito in Davao City are about 10 percent of the 1,600 towers the company is required to finish in July.

Tancontian said Dito committed to serve around 25 to 27 megabits per second (mbps) to about 30 percent of the whole population in the entire country for its first year of operation.

In a report by GMA News, Dito chief administrative officer Adel Tamano said the technical launch means the government will audit if the telecommunication company is able to fulfill its commitment.

Tamano said its pre-commercial trial will begin in September 2020.

It targets to fully serve the subscribers by March 2021 as mandated in the Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) issued to them by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).

Dito chief technology officer Rodolfo Santiago has also reported that they have so far installed 600 towers.

Dito Telecommunity Corporation is a consortium between Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy and the state-run China Telecom.