Section 1Sec./Art. 1

Nature and Scope of Franchise. - Subject to the provisions of the Constitution and applicable laws, rules and regulations, there is hereby granted to Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company, Inc., now known as Dito Telecommunity Corporation, granted under Republic Act No. 8627 and hereunder referred to as the grantee, its successors or assignees, the right, privilege and authority to carry on the business of providing telecommunications services in and between provinces, cities and municipalities in the Philippines and between the Philippines and other countries and territories and, for this purpose, to establish, operate, manage, lease, maintain and purchase telecommunications systems, and other telecommunications systems, fiber optics, satellite transmission and reception systems, and other telecommunications systems and their value-added services such as transmission of voice, data, facsimile, control signs, audio and video, and all other telecommunications systems technologies as are at present available or will be made available through technical advances or innovations in the future, or construct, acquire, lease, and operate or manage transmitting and receiving stations and switching stations, both for local and international services, lines, cables or systems, as is, or are, convenient or essential to efficiently carry out the purpose of this franchise, is hereby renewed for another twenty-five (25) years from the efffectivity of this Act.

In this Act, the term "telecommunications" shall include electronic telecommunications, In addition, the following terms shall have the meaning set forth herein:

Electronic communications network shall mean (a) a transmission system for conveyance by means of electrical, magnetic, or electromagnetic energy, of signals of any description; and (b) any of the following as are used by the persons providing the system and in association with it, for conveyance of the signals: (1) apparatus comprised in the system; (ii) apparatus used for the switching and routing of the systems; and (iii) software and stored data.

Electronic communications service shall mean a service consisting in or having as its principal feature the conveyance by means of electronic communications network of signals. It includes wired, wireless, fixed, cellular, and/or mobile, or integrated telecommunications/computer/electronic services, including value-added services, or technologies related to such service, which are present available or made available through technological advances or innovations in the future, and fixed and mobile stations.