the Outsider - PSE Points to Ponder

  ABS-CBN and DITO once stood on opposite sides of the Philippine corporate fate. Now, both are being kept aloft by creditors, suppliers, and hope. There is a certain symmetry in corporate misfortune. In 2020, ABS-CBN, the Lopez family’s media empire, lost the congressional franchise that had long underpinned its free-to-air broadcasting business after a House committee voted 70-11 to deny its bid for renewal. Around the same era, DITO Telecommunity, backed by Dennis Uy’s Udenna group and China Telecom, was being cast as the disruptive third telco that would break the Globe-PLDT duopoly and bring competition to the Philippine connectivity market.  Six years later, the tables have not so much turned as collapsed inward. ABS-CBN is no longer the mighty broadcaster whose franchise became a national political drama. DITO is no longer merely the insurgent challenger promising cheaper data and faster speeds. Both have become variations of the same Philippine corporate specimen:...

  In telecoms, coverage is not the same as solvency. DITO Telecommunity, the Philippines’ third mobile operator, has done the hard visible work: it has built a national network, sold SIMs, added subscribers, and inserted itself into a market once shared comfortably by two incumbents. But the latest public filings of its listed parent, DITO CME Holdings Corp. , show a company still being carried less by profits than by debt, supplier credit, shareholder advances, and investor patience . For the nine months ended September 30, 2025 , DITO CME reported revenue of ₱14.92 billion , but a net loss of ₱24.93 billion . Its capital deficiency widened to ₱95.31 billion , from ₱73.39 billion at the end of 2024. The top line is the part management can point to. Revenue rose from ₱11.89 billion in the first nine months of 2024 to ₱14.92 billion in the same period of 2025, a rise of roughly 25.5% . Service revenue accounted for almost all of it, at ₱14.50 billion . This is evidence of commerc...