Dominican Republic - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts

Executive summary

BuddeComm’s Dominican Republic - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts, profiles the fixed-line, mobile and broadband markets in Dominican Republic.

Although enjoying a relatively modern and mostly digital telecom system, the Dominican Republic’s fixed-line teledensity is well below the Latin American average. Mobile penetration is nearly ten times higher than fixed-line teledensity, and is about average for Latin America.

The Dominican Republic’s income inequalities are still reflected in its telephone distribution; some people own multiple mobile phones each, yet there are communities comprising hundreds of families without access to a single phone line. The Dominican Republican government has been aggressively addressing the issue of access with a number of projects and a major broadband deployment partnership with incumbent Codetel.

Although the global financial crisis took its toll on the economies of the Caribbean region, which contracted by an average of 2% during 2009, the Dominican Republic stood in stark contrast with positive growth of over 3%. Accordingly, investment in telecommunications and emerging services such as wireless broadband continued to strengthen into 2011.

This report contains overviews, analyses and statistics of the Dominican Republic’s fixed-line, mobile and broadband markets. The report also discussed convergence issues and provides forecasts of broadband and mobile phone subscriber growth.

Market highlights:

• Internet use has grown rapidly in recent years. For instance, in 2010 internet users grew 40% to over 3.8 million, above both the world average and that of Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of internet user numbers.
• Into 2011 Indotel had progressed against the plan announced in 2009 to add another 1,000 communities to its target of providing voice and broadband services to rural parts of the country.
• Despite the global economic downturn, investment in telecommunications continued to grow strongly.
• Mobile-phone subscriber growth fell to single digit figures during 2010 and growth rates from 2011 are expected to remain low as penetration rates approach and exceed 100%.

Companies covered in this report include:

Claro (América Móvil); Orange Dominicana; Tricom; VIVA; Codetel; Tricom

Lawrence Baker and Lisa Hulme-Jones

October 2011

Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may not be for the current year.

Table of Contents

• 1. Executive summary
• 2. Key statistics
  • 2.1 Country Overview
• 3. Telecommunications market
  • 3.1 Overview of the Dominican Republic’s telecom market
• 4. Regulatory environment
  • 4.1 Background
  • 4.2 Regulatory authority
    • 4.2.1 Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciones (Indotel)
  • 4.3 Telecom sector liberalisation
  • 4.4 Privatisation of Codetel
  • 4.5 Foreign investment
  • 4.6 Number portability
  • 4.7 Digital gap
  • 4.8 Digital rooms
• 5. Major fixed network operators in the Dominican Republic
  • 5.1 Overview
  • 5.2 Codetel (formerly Verizon Dominicana)
  • 5.3 Tricom
  • 5.4 Dgtec
• 6. Telecommunications infrastructure
  • 6.1 National telecom network
  • 6.2 International infrastructure
    • 6.2.1 Submarine cable networks
    • 6.2.2 Satellite networks
  • 6.3 Infrastructure developments
    • 6.3.1 Wireless Local Loop (WLL)
    • 6.3.2 IP and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
• 7. Internet market
  • 7.1 Overview
    • 7.1.1 Internet statistics
• 8. Broadband market
  • 8.1 Overview
  • 8.2 Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)
  • 8.3 Cable modems
  • 8.4 Wireless broadband
    • 8.4.1 WiFi
    • 8.4.2 WiMAX
    • 8.4.3 Internet via satellite
  • 8.5 Wholesale
• 9. Convergence
  • 9.1 Overview
  • 9.2 Digital switchover
  • 9.3 Pay TV
  • 9.4 IPTV
• 10. Mobile phone (mobile phone) market
  • 10.1 Overview of the Dominican Republic’s mobile phone market
    • 10.1.1 Mobile phone statistics
  • 10.2 Major mobile phone operators
    • 10.2.1 Claro (formerly Verizon Dominicana)
    • 10.2.2 Orange Dominicana
    • 10.2.3 Tricom
    • 10.2.4 VIVA (formerly Trilogy Dominicana)
  • 10.3 Prepaid versus postpaid
  • 10.4 Mobile data services
    • 10.4.1 High capacity mobile voice/data services (1xRTT)
    • 10.4.2 General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
• 11. Forecasts
  • 11.1 Forecast mobile subscribers
  • 11.2 Notes on scenario forecasts
• 12. Related reports

• Table 1 – Country statistics Dominican Republic – 2011
• Table 2 – Telephone network statistics – 2011
• Table 3 – Internet provider statistics – 2011
• Table 4 – Internet user statistics – 2011
• Table 5 – Mobile phone statistics – 2011
• Table 6 – National telecommunications authority
• Table 7 – GDP growth – 2000 - 2010
• Table 8 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 1996 - 2012
• Table 9 – Public phone data – 1996 - 2011
• Table 10 – WLL lines in service – 1999 - 2011
• Table 11 – VoIP subscribers – 2008 - 2011
• Table 12 – Internet users – 1996 - 2012
• Table 13 – Internet subscribers – 1996 - 2011
• Table 14 – Internet subscribers by technology – 2005 - 2011
• Table 15 – DSL residential and corporate subscribers – 2004 - 2011
• Table 16 – Pay TV subscribers – 2008 - 2011
• Table 17 – Mobile phone subscribers and penetration rate – 1996 - 2012
• Table 18 – Postpaid and prepaid percentage of subscribers – 2001 - 2011
• Table 19 – Forecast mobile subscribers – lower growth scenario – 2011 - 2016
• Table 20 – Forecast mobile subscribers – higher market scenario – 2011 - 2016

• Exhibit 1 – Major submarine cable networks serving the Dominican Republic