Thread by @cnnphilippines

THREAD: Senate panel starts its hearing on Dito Telecommunity's franchise renewal. The existing franchise under its parent firm Mislatel expires April 2023.

The third telco provider rolled out its commercial operations last Monday.

Tweets by @meltlopez and @pplmanuel

Senate Committee on Public Services Chair Sen. Grace Poe reminds franchise applicants: The grant of franchise is not a right but a privilege. Applicants must establish public need for services they propose to deliver, adequate means to provide these. bit.ly/2OHLCPR

Democracy.net.ph says there's still insufficient broadband infrastructure in the country. Data is from the Better Broadband Alliance

Dito Telecom chief administrative officer Adel Tamano reports 22,748 subscriber signups online on the first full day of their commercial rollout. SIM purchases totaled 7,586 as of March 9

Dito chief technology officer Rodolfo Santiago confident of meeting the 51% population coverage for the July technical audit. Right now we're at 45% coverage.

Dito rolled out mobile network services in select parts of Visayas, Mindanao last Monday.

Democracy.Net.PH co-founder Pierre Tito Galla: I'm surprised Dito restricted their list regarding which phones are compatible. There's this question because of the type of frequencies licensed to them

LOOK: Here's a list of smartphones compatible with Dito's SIM. They explain these phones went through a test in collaboration with gadget manufacturers.

These phones have voice over LTE or VoLTE-ready mobile phones. Dito SIM cards will also not work on phones locked under existing players Smart and Globe.

Dito's Tamano clarifies this list is only partial: These are phones by which our company has had extensive testing as well as coordination with respective manufacturers

Dito's Santiago: Ang phones na wala sa initial list, hindi po namin sinasabing hindi gagana but there may be technical issues which users may encounter.

He adds collaborative tests are ongoing to check the compatibility of phones made by other brands.

Dito's Tamano says SIM cards are currently available in 10 stores in VisMin through the stores of cellphone makers. Stand-alone Dito stores will be opened in a month's time.