he
Dominican Republic has one of the most sophisticated communications
infrastructures in the whole of the Caribbean, with an extensive digital
network supporting ultra-modern voice and data services including broadband
internet and cable television.
It has one of the most competitive telecoms industries in the region,
with a number of local and international players all slugging it out
for market share. The sector is overseen by regulatory watchdog Indotel,
set up under the 1998 telecoms law.
The development of the telecoms industry and the explosion in the number
of phone lines in recent years has been part and parcel of the country’s
economic success. According to the central bank, the telecoms market
generates around $1.3 billion in business each year and has grown at
a rate of nearly 19 per cent since 1996. Codetel, the republic’s
former state monopoly since 1930, has had a fight on its hands with
the arrival of independent rival Tricom,
and subsequently mobile phone operators Orange and Centennial. The number
of mobile users is now greater than the one million fixed lines installed
by Codetel.
Tricom, a joint venture involving the local Grupo
Financiero Nacional with Motorola of the US, is one of the Dominican
Republic’s great success stories. Since it launched in 1990 Tricom
has invested more than $1 billion in its network infrastructure and
services, and its market share is now second only to Codetel. It is
the only company in the country listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
|
||
 |
“We
have benefited from the country’s growth,” says Tricom’s
executive vice-president, Carl Carlson.
“The telecoms area has grown two or three times the rate of GDP
and we are expecting to keep on growing at the same rate.”
The company is targeting other markets in Central America, such as Guatemala,
Panama and El Salvador, but there is still plenty of room for growth
at home, and to extend services across the border to Haiti. “Our
strategy is to have partners in Central America that know their markets,”
he says.
In 2003, Tricom hopes to reach a target of one
million clients. “We are focusing our telephone, internet, cable
TV and mobile phone services on two areas – consumers and businesses,”
says Mr Carlson. Tricom’s success is a source of great pride to
ordinary citizens. It now has a fully digital local access network,
a wireless network covering 80 per cent of the country and a submarine
fibre-optic cable system to provide a the full range of local, long
distance, mobile, internet and data transmission services. The company’s
logo, a black and white spotted dog, is instantly recognisable to most
people.
Mr Carlson believes Tricom illustrates the best of the joint ventures
between local and foreign organisations. “There has been a great
tradition for joint ventures with major economic corporations,”
he says. “The country is wide open – there have been a lot
of success stories.” Among British names to have taken a position
in the market alongside local partners are Unilever and Phillip Morris.
[email protected]