Philippines operator Dito Telecommunity stepped up its nationwide network deployment, announcing a PHP10 billion ($207 million) contract with a subsidiary of one of its owners to build 1,500 towers over the next two years.

The contract with Udenna Infrastructure Corp (UIC), a subsidiary of Udenna Corp, one of the operator’s three owners, also calls for laying more than 1,400km of fibre. The consortium also includes China Telecom and Chelsea Holdings.

UIC COO Jomel Fuentes said in a statement: “In need of local expertise and grassroots infrastructure experience, Dito Telecommunity engaged UIC to assist in the rollout of cellular towers and fibre-optic cables.”

UIC and FutureNet and Technology Corp, Dito’s general contractor, recently signed a master service agreement outlining the scope of the work.

The operator, which in November 2018 was named the country’s third major operator, earlier in the year delayed a planned commercial launch until March 2021.

By mid-September, the newcomer said it had deployed two-thirds of the 1,300 towers required to achieve the mandated targets of 37 per cent population coverage and download data rates of 27Mb/s by January 2021.

Dito COO Rodolfo Santiago said in September it signed agreements with ten tower companies.