DITO Telecommunity brags about its modern network technology that shall help improve the connectivity situation in the Philippines.
The technology is so advanced that it won’t work on certain smartphones. So much so that DITO’s chief technology officer Rodolfo Santiago admitted it’s making it hard for them to broaden their user base.
In a statement during the brand’s Metro Manila launch, Santiago said that it’s quite challenging for the company since the new technology they use isn’t compatible with devices that only have 2G or 3G.
Besides smartphones stuck with 2G or 3G, this also means that older, feature phones that still rely on keypads instead of touchscreens will also not work with DITO.
Another hindrance is the brand’s voice-over LTE (VoLTE), which not all smartphones have, even some modern ones. This feature lets users make crystal-clear calls straight from the Phone app — no internet or messaging app is needed.
“There are phones that cannot utilize 100% of the services of DITO,” as per Santiago.
It may not be good for business, but the company said that:
“We are doing our best to provide superior service… We want DITO to be known as the one who was instrumental in improving the telecommunications service in the Philippines.”
As of writing, a DITO SIM is only compatible with select smartphones from a couple of Chinese brands like OPPO, Vivo, Realme, Xiaomi, Huawei, TCL, TECNO Mobile, Infinix; other brands like Samsung, and local OEMs like Cherry Mobile and MyPhone. You can check the full list of compatible devices to check if your will work.
Via: CNN Philippines
It’s so advanced it lacks 5G. So, fine, it requires VoLTE. A lot of phones do support that. Look elsewhere and you will see countries essentially done migrating to VoLTE. But, I’m looking at you Smart and Globe.. where’s the VoLTE/VoWiFi for prepaid subscribers already? Globe has been glacially rolling out VoLTE to postpaid for _years_ at this point. Hopefully a little competition spurs the incumbents to get this going already.