Dito uses up 67 percent of FOO proceeds

MANILA, Philippines — Telco owner Dito CME Holdings Corp. has used up two-thirds of the proceeds it raised from its recent fundraising, funding commercial expansion to grab more consumers to its side.

Dito CME, the parent of telco newcomer Dito Telecommunity Corp., raised P2.05 billion from its follow-on offering (FOO) in December 2024.

So far, Dito CME has depleted 67 percent, or P1.37 billion, of the proceeds, investing the amount mainly on commercial rollout.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Dito CME said it has used up P1.26 billion of the proceeds on the commercial expansion of Dito. The next largest spending is on advertising and promotions at P88.79 million, signaling the direction the telco is taking.

Dito is working on scaling up its subscriber base this year. The youngest telco in the industry aims to take up 16 percent of mobile consumers in the Philippines by 2026.

Dito has the liberty now to concentrate on its marketing initiatives, as it passed all of the yearly audits of the government and is no longer required to spend mainly on network buildup.

Given this, Dito’s parent Dito CME is trimming its capital expenditures for 2025 to P15 billion to P20 billion, from P25 billion to P30 billion in 2024.

Earlier, Dito CME chief financial officer Leo Venezuela disclosed that Dito’s focus now is to develop products and services that could gain it more market traction.

Venezuela said Dito plans to acquire new solutions to widen its menu of connectivity services. It also looks to improve the value of existing bundles to serve the evolving demand for data.

Dito’s parent Dito CME is dealing with financial woes arising from the intensive spending it had to make on network infrastructure. As of September 2024, Dito CME’s net loss has ballooned by 93 percent to P11.05 billion, with its capital deficiency sitting at P60.23 billion.

In spite of this, Venezuela believes that Dito CME is treading the right path financially, and that it will become profitable by 2027 as projected by management.

Primarily, he attributes his confidence to Dito’s rising income, which has hit close to P12 billion as of the third quarter of 2024, with average revenue per user reaching P120 monthly.