Thread by @meltlopez

Dito Telecommunity officials hold a media briefing a day after the National Telecommunications Commission announced they passed their first technical audit: We are ready for our March rollout. @cnnphilippines

Chief administrative officer Adel Tamano says the telco will do its commercial launch in "less than two weeks." @cnnphilippines

JUST IN: Dito Telecommunity commercial launch set on March 8. First rollout will be in Mindanao, in honor of its parent firm Mindanao Islamic Telephone (Mislatel) @cnnphilippines

Tamano: Dito commercial rollout will be done in phases. Davao, Cebu will be among the first markets to be tapped. By Q2, we will already be commercially available nationally. @cnnphilippines

Tamano says they won't disclose yet the packages Dito will offer as it needs to be competitive.

Dito Chief Technology Officer Rodolfo Santiago pledges to conform with the 27 Mbps mobile data speed. @cnnphilippines

Santiago: Government requires the interconnection with other networks. We're talking to other telcos like Globe, and even for other non-mobile service providers. This allows our subscribers to call those using other networks. @cnnphilippines

Tamano: We're doing our launch in waves, starting with 17 cities and municipalities like Davao and Cebu. We'll have online presence, some stores as well, other outlets and convenience stores.

Dito chief technology officer Rodolfo Santiago shows that he is already a Dito-powered phone.

Tamano: 20 Dito retail stores are currently under construction. By March 8, 10-20 physical stores will be ready in Visayas and Mindanao. @cnnphilippines

Santiago: We are on track to meet our second-year audit commitments which will be assessed in July. We're at 45% population coverage and building up the 5G network. @cnnphilippines

Tamano: For this year year, our spending plan is about P26 billion. We have already complied with the initial capex @cnnphilippines

Dito says it has also signed an interconnection deal with Globe. PLDT announced their connection with Dito today @cnnphilippines

Why launch Dito in Mindanao first?

Tamano: We'll do it in waves and before June, we'll be available nationwide. It's just going to be a few weeks when the complete suite of services will just be limited to VisMin. It's really sentimental (for Mislatel) @cnnphilippines

Santiago refuses to disclose pricing of Dito plans now, but says they will offer affordable and better services.

Tamano: Our endorsers will be the public, those who will try our services and see it's very good. We're not spending millions on big-time endorsers @cnnphilippines

Tamano says Dito isn't spending on big shot endorsers and KPop stars: We'd rather spend our money on towers and networks.

Globe and Smart have tapped Blackpink and BTS, respectively. @cnnphilippines

Dito will use these mobile number prefixes for subscribers: 0992, 0993, 0994, 0895, 0896, 0897, 0898.
@cnnphilippines

Santiago says Dito is still in the process of securing approvals to set up cell sites within military camps: Right now we're waiting for the final go-ahead from some sites so we can start building.

5 towers are eyed inside Camp Aguinaldo, the AFP headquarters @cnnphilippines

Santiago: It will take a while before Dito generates a profit, maybe not next year. @cnnphilippines

Dito says their March 8 launch will be 'unique' with a CSR event. The network will also start selling SIM cards. @cnnphilippines

Santiago: Dito's Chinese partners are 'very enthusiastic.' This achievement is extraordinary even to them.

State-owned China Telecom is a big Dito Telecommunity investor, which earlier fueled speculations of possible spying. The company denied this. @cnnphilippines

Dito says it is in talks to offer mobile phones from big brands, not just China-made gadgets. @cnnphilippines