The government has allowed DITO Telecommunity, the third telecommunications player in the Philippines, to build cell sites inside military bases in the country, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Tuesday.
Lorenzana confirmed during the House of Representatives hearing on the budget proposal of the Department of Defense (DND) that he has approved the 2019 Memorandum of Agreement between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and DITO Telecommunity. The deal would allow DITO to set up towers in military camps.
The Defense Chief, however, clarified that the MOA he approved between DITO and AFP would only affect military camp where Globe and Smart also set up cell sites.
Meanwhile, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez asked Lorenzana to review the memorandum agreement.
The Congress granted DITO Telecommunity with a new 25-year franchise last August.
Dito Telecommunity Corporation (formerly known as Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc. or Mislatel) is a consortium of Davao businessman Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corporation and its subsidiary Chelsea Logistics Corporation, and Chinese state-owned China Telecommunications Corporation, a parent company of China Telecom.
Also read: PLDT-Smart to build around 200 cell sites
DITO Telecommunity to build cell sites in PH military bases
President Rodrigo Duterte said during the fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) that he would coordinate with the Congress to remove Globe Telecom Inc. and Smart Communications Inc. from the industry if they would not improve their service by December.
“Kindly improve the services before December. I want to call Jesus Christ to Bethlehem. Better have that line cleared,” Duterte said.
“The next two years will be spent improving the telecommunications of the country without you. I will talk to Congress and find a way how to do it,” he added.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III advised Smart and Globe, the two leading telecommunication companies in the country, to take President Rodrigo Duterte’s threat seriously.
“If I were the telcos, I will take the threat of the President seriously,” Sotto said in a message to reporters.
Globe meanwhile responded to the President’s call saying they already invested billions of dollars in improving their services.