Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 16) — The operations of the third telco player have been a drag on the bottomline of DITO CME, a holding firm led by businessman Dennis A. Uy.
The group told the local bourse it consolidated the financials of DITO Telecommunity (DITO Tel) in its third quarter report.
As the telco startup’s national network deployment forced it to bleed capital, the holding firm saw its operating expenses balloon to ₱1.746 billion in the first nine months. This resulted in operating losses of ₱1.459 billion.
Inclusive of other charges of ₱1.340 billion, DITO CME’s net losses reached ₱2.808 billion.
“DITO Tel is playing the long game. From day one we did mention already that building a telco from scratch will be very much capital extensive but the milestones reached in just nine months of operation is encouraging to say the least,” DITO CME president Eric Alberto was quoted as saying in the filing.
Eight months after its official launch in the telco industry, DITO Telecommunity has already gained four million mobile subscribers.
Alberto claimed hitting the mark is “an affirmation that there is a large segment of the market that would go for an alternative fast, reliable, and widely available mobile service.”
Earlier, DITO Telecommunity said its mobile service is now accessible to over 50% of the Philippine population.
But for Donald Lim, DITO CME chief operating officer, the group is “more than” a telco player.
Lim said DITO CME is penetrating more fields in the digital space, including online learning, customer data analytics, and media solutions.
