On behalf of DITO Telecommunity Corporation ("DITO"), our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dennis A. Uy, Udenna Corporation, China Telecom, and our shareholders and partners, we would like to express our gratitude to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte for signing into law RA 11537, which renews for another 25 years the franchise granted to DITO.

We equally would like to thank the esteemed members of the Senate and House of Representatives who recognized the importance of providing the Filipino people with affordable, fast, and reliable connectivity that they truly deserve.

This momentous milestone could not have come at a better time--having come a day after DITO, the third major telecommunications company in the Philippines, announced its entry into Metro Manila and its presence in 100 cities and municipalities, making its services available to 29 million of our countrymen.

As members of the Senate and Congress have mentioned in the hearings, the grant of a franchise is not a privilege. It is a commitment, a commitment that we in DITO take seriously.

DITO was born out of a spirit of nation-building. The rationale for a third telco was to serve the underserved, to provide Filipinos with a better option and a wiser choice, and to be a partner in nation- building. We in DITO all knew from the beginning that our mandate is to serve, and we are here for the long haul for the Filipino.

With the trust placed on DITO, we reiterate that we are here to serve, to do whatever it takes, to do whatever “diskarte” that we need to embrace, and to deliver our promise of weaving Filipino communities together, wherever they may be, with stronger connectivity.