DITO CME Holdings Corp. on Friday said that unit DITO Telecommunity Corp. (DITO Telecommunity), had passed the fifth and final mandatory technical audit of commitments made as the country's third major telecommunications company. "DITO was informed today by its subsidiary, DITO Telecommunity Corp. (DITO Tel), that it has passed its fifth year technical audit with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)," the company told the stock exchange. DITO Tel received a September 7 letter from the NTC certifying that the telco had met its commitments to deliver a target of 84-percent national population coverage and a minimum average broadband speed (MABS) of 55 megabits per second (Mbps). The findings were based on the results of an independent audit by R.G. Manabat and Co., which found that DITO Tel's national population coverage stood at 86.30 percent and its MABS registered 92.87 Mbps for all its 4G sites and 597.70 Mbps all its 5G sites, surpassing the commitments made when the firm was granted a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity. "[T]he commission hereby declares that DITO Telecommunity passed the technical audit of its commitments, national population coverage, and MABS for the fifth year," the NTC letter said. In another development, the Philippine Stock Exchange said it has approved the application of DITO CME for its follow-on offering of 1.95 billion primary common shares and an offer price ranging from P1.00 to P2.15 per share. The Securities and Exchange Commission already gave its approval last month. DITO CME expects to raise approximately P1.95 billion, assuming an offer price of P1.00 per share, or around P4.20 billion at P2.15 per share. The offer period will run from Sept. 26 until Oct. 2, 2024, while the tentative listing of the shares has been set for Oct. 10, 2024. Proceeds will be used to fund DITO Tel's commercial rollout of its network expansion as well as for general corporate purposes and to help address its negative equity. BDO Capital and Investment Corp. is the sole issue manager, underwriter, and bookrunner of the offering. DITO CME shares on Friday climbed by P0.05, or 2.58 percent, to close at P1.99 each, outpacing a 0.70-percent gain for the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index.
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