The Dominican Republic has extensive mobile phone and land-line services. INDOTEL, Instituto Dominicano De Telecomunicaciones, regulates and supervises the development of the country telecommunications market. The Dominican Republic has Cable Internet, ADSL, WIMAX, EV-DO and UMTS/HSDPA in most parts of the country. Projects to extend Wi-Fi (wireless internet) hots spots have been undertaken in Santo Domingo. Numerous television channels are available. Tricom, S.A, Wind Telecom and Claro Codetel provide television services digitally, with channels from around Latin America and elsewhere in the world.
Telephones - main lines in use: 1,009,906 (2010)
Mobile phones: 8,892,783 (2010)
Mobile teledensity: 91.3% (2010)
VoIP Lines: 72,894 (2009)
Telephone system:
domestic: very efficient system based on island-wide microwave radio relay network and fiber optics lines that cover many of the main cities
international: connected to the ARCOS (America's Region Caribbean Optical-ring System); 1 coaxial submarine cable; satellite earth station - 1; Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 143, FM 247, shortwave 14 (2008)
Radios: 1.44 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 46 (2008)
Televisions: 770,000 (1997)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 8 [Claro(ADSL and wireless), Tricom(WIMAX, ADSL, and Cable), Aster (CABLE), VIVA (wireless), France Telecom (wireless), Onemax (WIMAX), Wind Telecom (WIMAX)] (2008)
Internet Accounts: 622,931 (2010)
Internet Users: 3,851,278 (2010)
Pay TV Subscribers: 249,010 (2010)
Country code: DO
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The Dominican Republic is considered one of the countries with the most advanced telecommunications infrastructures in Latin America, with over 8.9 million cell phones connected (on just about 10 million populants, with 3.5 million of them on extreme poverty conditions) and large companies like Codetel and Orange (FR) on the telecommunications market. Broadband Internet access is growing, with over 622,931 Internet accounts globally and 3,851,278 Internet users as of December, 2010 according to INDOTEL(DR Telecommunications Institute). Broadband DSL represents about 56% of the total Internet subscribers. There is access to regular ADSL, G.SHDSL, and services only on metropolitan areas, costs are high and service is decent. Cable Internet is offered by a couple of cable companies at lower costs than ADSL but the service is very deficient and unreliable. WiFi is becoming more common. It is available in some universities. Most hotels also offer wi-fi internet. The implementation of the Wimax and HSPA technology by some of the Cellphone service providers are resulting in the rapid investment by other providers in the market to match the new and faster platform of services. Mobile broadband user have seen their percentage grow from 14% in 2007 all the way to 39% in 2010, and will continue to grow as more and more users are opting for this type of technology in a country where Home Broadband speeds are more expensive and slower. Also the ongoing installation of a Fiber-Optic network structure in the National District and the City of Santiago (second largest in the country) will force other competitors into upgrading theirs to be able to compete in the markets they now lead.
| Download Speeds | Claro República Dominicana | Tricom, S.A | Wind Telecom |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Mbit/s | $ 695 DOP (18.28 USD) | $ 699 DOP (18.89 USD) | $ 690 DOP (18.64 USD) |
| 1.5 Mbit/s | $ 995 DOP (26.89 USD) | $ 995 DOP (26.89 USD) | $ 990 DOP (26.75 USD) |
| 2 Mbit/s | $ 1,295 DOP (35 USD) | $ 1,295 DOP (35 USD) | $ 1,290 DOP (34.86 USD) |
| 3 Mbit/s | $ 1,795 DOP (48.51 USD) | $ 1,795 DOP (48.51 USD) | $ 1,790 DOP (48.37 USD) |
| 4 Mbit/s | $ 2,200 DOP (59.45 USD) | $ 2,200 DOP (59.45 USD) | N/A |
| 5 Mbit/s | N/A | $ 2,850 DOP (77.02 USD) | N/A |
| 6 Mbit/s | $ 2,850 DOP (77.02 USD) | N/A | N/A |
| 8 Mbit/s | $ 3,350 DOP (90.54 USD) | N/A | N/A |
| 10 Mbit/s | $ 4,950 DOP (133.78 USD) | N/A | $ 2,690 DOP (72.70 USD) |
| 15Mbit/s | $ 6,950 DOP (187.83 USD) | N/A | N/A |
| 20 Mbit/s | $ 9,950 DOP (268.91 USD) | N/A | N/A |
| 30 Mbit/s | 13,450 DOP (363.51 USD) | N/A | N/A |
| 40 Mbit/s | $ 16,950 (458.10 USD) | N/A | N/A |
| 50 Mbit/s | $ 18,995 (513.37 USD) | N/A | N/A |
DOP: Dominican Peso, USD: United States Dollar
The cable television in the Dominican Republic are provided by a variety of companies. These companies offer both English and Spanish language television, plus a range of channels in other languages, high definition channels, Pay-per-view movies and events, sports packages, premium movies channels and adult channels such as HBO, Playboy TV, Cinecanal, MLB Extra Innings, etc. Also, the channels are from not only the Dominican Republic, but also the United States and Europe. In the Dominican Republic television spectrum there are 46 in VHF and UHF channels free-to-air channels. The free of charge channels programming consists mainly of locally produced entertainment shows, news, and comedy shows; and foreign sit-comes, soap operas, movies, cartoons, and sports programs.
The main service provider in the Dominican Republic is Tricom. Aster is concentrated in Santo Domingo, but is expanding its service throughout the Dominican Republic. There are also new companies using new technologies that are expanding quickly such as Claro TV (IPTV and Satellite TV), Wind Telecom(MMDS) and SKY(Satellite TV).
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