Dito to improve indoor signal

MANILA, Philippines — New major telecommunications player Dito Telecommunity is working to boost its indoor signal, a concern the company looks to address as it further expands its coverage.

Dito chief technology officer Rodolfo Santiago said the company would beef up its indoor coverage penetration through the installation of more in-building solutions and deployment of more towers.

“There are two strategies to address the concern. One is to densify our network, to penetrate more residences, and the other one is increase our in-building solutions coverage inside major public buildings,” he said.

Santiago said Dito currently has more than 200 in-building solutions already finished.

”We are very aggressive in terms of our in-building solutions. These 200 are essentially covering the major malls and major buildings nationwide,” he said.

“For the indoor in residences, we’re hoping that we can increase the density of towers so we can provide better indoor coverage. Stage two of our rollout will address that,” Santiago said.

In terms of towers, Dito has over 4,000 to date.

Dito, which currently covers more than 500 areas nationwide, is targeting to be commercially available in more than 850 cities and municipalities by the end of 2022.

“In the past couple of months it really has been improving. It’s a work in progress, but slowly but surely we’ll get there,” Dito chief administrative officer Adel Tamano said, referring to Dito’s indoor coverage.

Dito, a telco owned by the group of Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy and state-owned China Telecommunications,  made its commercial debut last March 8 in selected areas in Visayas and Mindanao, and made its much-awaited entry in Metro Manila on May 17.

It has gained over five million subscribers in just eight months of operations.