DITO picks US firm as cybersecurity solutions provider, says 'fortunate' with China Telecom on board

MANILA - DITO Telecommunity said Thursday it was "fortunate" to have China Telecom as partner for its third telco rollout calling espionage concerns "misplaced" and bringing in a US firm as cybersecurity provider.

China Telecom has the experience of working with 900 million users or almost 9x the population of the Philippines and is holding the most patents when it comes to the 5G technology, DITO chief administrative officer Adel Tamano said in a virtual press briefing.

Tamano said the telco was not "China-backed" but it has a partnership with a Chinese state-owned enterprise.

"There’s no truth to people saying that DITO is a Chinese company, or being run by Chinese, in terms of its structure its a Filipino company. The management of DITO it is primarily, if not fully, Filipinos...We are not backed by China, we have a partnership with China Telecom," Tamano said.

"We shouldn’t be complaining or raising issues, we should think that we are rather fortunate to have Chinatel (China Telecom) as a partner of DITO in order to reinvent our local industry," he added.

DITO is a consortium of Davao-based businessman Dennis Uy and his firms Udenna Corp and Chelsea Logistics with China Telecom.

The telco is 60 percent owned by Filipinos while the remaining parts are owned by foreign nationals, which complied with the Philippine Constitution's cap on ownership, it said.

DITO earlier said it was leaning heavily on Chinese partner for technology since what they're bringing to the country is something new.

Engaging investments from Chinese firms is also a sign of good "diplomatic relations" with China, Tamano said.

“In a more fundamental level, we have a very good diplomatic and economic relations with China, as far as I know we are not at war with China. These concerns on espionage is misplaced,” he said.

US CYBERSECURITY FIRM

Working with China Telecom is also cheaper compared to Ericsson and Samsung, which were also considered for the rollout, chief technology officer Rodolfo Santiago said.

DITO has also brought in US firm Fortinet as its primary cybersecurity solutions provider, another proof that the company is run by Filipinos, Santiago said.

If the Chinese partner calls the shots, bringing a US company may cause internal conflict, he said.

"If really Chinatel (China Telecom) is in control, they will not allow a US technology company to provide the cybersecurity solutions because three cheaper cyber security solutions from China and we deliberately chose a US company to provide that solution," Santiago said.

"Kung wala kayo tiwala sa Chinese equipment, siguro naman may tiwala kayo sa US cybersecurity solution (If you don't trust Chinese equipment, at least you may have some confidence in US cybersecurity solution)," he added.

DITO will invest at least P1 billion for cybersecurity this year in a bid to become "exemplary" in this field, Tamano said.

So far, it has breached its P150 billion commitment this year with some P27 billion earmarked for 2021.

Santiago said DITO plans to expand its network by constructing an additional 3,500 4G sites and 1,500 5G sites next year. DITO scored the green light to build towers within military camps.

DITO committed to build 1,300 towers and facilities on its first year, which it said would be completed by October. It promised to bring 27 mbps internet speeds on its first year and an average of 55 mbps on its second year.

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