Dennis Uy-led Dito Telecommunity Corporation is targeting to end the year with 16 million subscribers after surpassing a new user count milestone last week.

“We have just crossed 13 million subscribers last week. Hopefully [we reach] 16 million [by the end of the year],” Dito Chief Executive Officer Ernesto Alberto told reporters at the sidelines of the company’s final technical audit celebration late Tuesday, Oct. 8.

“This is not just a number. It represents the trust and confidence that millions of Filipinos have placed in us. And it is just the beginning of what we intend to achieve in the coming years,” he added.

Last month, the company announced that it passed the fifth and final technical audit which was among the conditions set by the government when it was named the third telco to break the duopoly of Globe and Smart.

In addition, Alberto said that Dito’s entry into the market significantly made data price more affordable by more than 20-fold.

“In 2015, the price of data stood at $11 per GB (gigabyte). By 2022, we had reduced it over 20-fold to just $0.52 per GB. This transformation is a testament to the positive impact of healthy competition and the undeniable benefits it brings to consumers,” he said.

Since its establishment, Dito was able to spend as much as P250 billion to build 7,000 cellular towers as part of its promise of connecting 84 percent of the Philippine population and offering a minimum average speed of 55 megabits per second (mbps) upon its 5th year. In its fifth year, it was able to meet the 55 mbps minimum speed and achieve an 86-percent population coverage.

For next year, Dito is hoping to swing to profitability or at least break even. It is also expected to start being prudent in spending and focus on filling the connectivity gaps in remote areas.