Recently published research from BuddeComm, "Dominican Republic - Telecoms, IP Networks, Digital Media and Forecasts", is now available at Fast Market Research

Boston, MA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/19/2014 --Executive summary

Mobile operators investment in LTE and prepare for renewed spectrum auction

BuddeComm's publication, Dominican Republic - Telecoms, IP Networks, Digital Media and Forecasts, provides a comprehensive overview of the trends and developments in the telecoms market in the second largest economy in the Caribbean.

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.

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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 the 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%. Consequently, investment in telecommunications and emerging services such as wireless broadband has remained strong.

Considerable changes are expected in the mobile sector, with the anticipated auction of spectrum in the AWS and 900MHz bands which had been cancelled in 2011. Operators have launched commercial LTE services.

Consolidation in the sector was seen in late 2013 when Orange Group, having invested some US$150 million in its local network, sold Orange Dominicana to Altice Group. At the same time, Altice group acquired the integrated telecoms services provider Tricom Telecom.

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

Market highlights:

- Internet use has grown rapidly in recent years, far above the global and regional average.
- The regulator Indotel has made progress in projecting voice and broadband services to rural parts of the country, soliciting funding from the World Bank to build a national fibre-optic network.
- Despite the global economic downturn, investment in the telecoms sector has continued to grow strongly.
- Mobile-phone subscriber growth has fallen since 2010, reflecting the relatively high penetration.
- The regulator in early 2012 allocated digital dividend spectrum for mobile services, which will go far in extending services to underserved rural regions.
- The MNO Orange Dominicana launched the first LTE network in the Dominican Republic in mid-2012, initially in Santo Domingo and offering peak data speeds of up to 100Mb/s. The operator has invested more than US$150 million in expanding and upgrading its network.
- In early 2012 the government passed Law 01-2012 (National Development Strategy) which released the digital dividend 700MHz band for mobile services. The country now has 818MHz allocated for mobile telephony and broadband compared to 270MHz in 2002.
- The triple play operator Wind Telecom launched a VoD service in 2012, Moviecity Play. The service has already been deployed in other Latin American markets, including Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Chile, attracting more than 1.5 million customers across the region.
- In March 2013 an internet exchange was set up, enabling local ISPs to terminate traffic on another's domestic network without having to use expensive international routes.
- Orange in late 2013 considered exiting the Dominican market as part of a Group rationalisation of its business subsidiaries.
- Tricom during 2013 upgraded its LTE network, and has migrated its CDMA subscribers to the new platform. The operator was acquired by Altice Group in late 2013.
- AT&T negotiates for collaboration with America Movil to make use of its Dominican Republic networks;
- Updates on the AMX-1 submarine cable;
- Orange Dominicana launches the 'Orange m-peso' pre-paid mobile banking service;
- The government has begun distributing around one million decoders to help the transition to digital TV, to be part-funded by revenue from spectrum auctions.
- Henry Lancaster
- April 2014
- Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may not be for the current year.
- This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in the Dominican Republic's telecommunications market. The report analyses the mobile, internet, broadband, digital TV and converging media sectors.

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