Dennis Uy-led Dito Telecommunity Corporation is targeting to more than double the number of its home subscribers in 2025, as it banks on the millions of households within its coverage area that are yet to have internet connection.
On the sidelines of the company’s launch of its Dito Home WOWFi in Taguig City on Friday, Oct. 18, Dito Telecommunity Chief Revenue Officer for Commercial Business Evelyn Jimenez said that the company has so far registered 100,000 home subscribers to date, while looking to end this year at 150,000.
“For next year we really want to more than double that. It really depends on how the market will respond,” she said.
According to Jimenez, there are more than six million households within Dito’s service area who remain without internet connection.
“This is definitely one segment that we can tap,” she said.
On Friday, the company launched the Dito Home WOWFi to offer a more affordable and flexible option for its home subscribers.
In partnership with Huawei Technologies Inc., it is the first prepaid wifi to offer 5G RedCap technology offering speeds of up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps), and can connect up to 40 devices and accommodate up to 20 simultaneous livestreams.
According to Huawei, 5G RedCap is the kind of technology that provides all the benefits of 5G such as low latency, high peak data rate, and maximum capacity without the need for high bandwidth. Globally, 5G RedCap is only used for industrial purposes.
According to Jimenez, it prioritizes 5G technology for Dito Home WOWFi, albeit it can still be used in areas outside of 5G services but have 4G allocation.
“So in case our 5G service is out of reach…you can still use our 4G,” Jimenez said.
At present, Dito has more than 2,000 5G cellular sites out of a total of 7,000 Dito cell sites across the Philippines.
Home market aside, the company is also in discussions with technology giant Apple Inc. to unlock the full iPhone experience for Dito users.
At present, Dito users need to manually replace the Access Point Name setting on iPhone to allow customers to use mobile data hassle-free.
“Hopefully (we can fix the issue by) next year. We are in discussions (with Apple). It is better to have a full iPhone experience,” Jimenez said.
Last month, Dito said it recently surpassed the 13-million subscriber mark for its mobile market. It is targeting to end the year with 16 million mobile subscribers.