MANILA—As it finally received its permit to operate on Monday, the Philippines' third major telco also pulled out a surprise by announcing that it was changing its name from Mislatel to Dito Telecommunity Corp.

The reason behind the name change, however, is not as complicated as some may have assumed, company spokesman Adel Tamano said.

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"Tinanong namin sarili namin: Where do we want world class mobile service? Sabi namin, 'dito.' Where do we want world class broadband service? 'Dito,' " Tamano said in an interview with DZMM Teleradyo.

Dito is the Filipino word for "here."

"Why don't we just name our company as 'Dito' because it's a Filipino company and we also want it na inclusive nga eh," Tamano added.

The Dennis Uy-led company eyes commercial operations by July next year and vows to offer quality services above those of current telcos.

Dito has committed to deliver 27 megabits per second (Mbps) internet speed covering 37 percent of the country in its first year of operation.

It also promised to offer 55 Mbps of internet speed that covers 84 percent of the population within 5 years.

"We're here really to shake up the market, really cause some disturbance so that things can improve," Tamano said.

Tamano, however, acknowledged that the company has a tough time ahead, particularly because it will need to build many cell sites.

He said that most of the existing cell sites cannot accommodate more than one telco.

"So even if want to partner with them, there's a lot of that retrofitting [needed]," Tamano said.

It will be faster for Dito to build its own cell sites, he said.

The company is also promising to build cell sites that are ready for 5G equipment.