The Dominican Association of Cable Companies firmly opposes the intent of an Unión Fenosa affiliate to enter the business of cable TV and telecommunication market by benefiting from a Dominican Electricity Corporation monopoly. Legal spokesman for the company point out that Unión Fenosa came to the DR as an advisor to the Dominican Electricity Corporation under a RD$180 million Interamerican Development Bank program to rescue the Dominican Electricity Corporation from economic and financial collapse. Instead of achieving the object of the program, Unión Fenosa moved to become one of the owners of the CDE, participating and winning the tender for the privatization of distribution. The company today is responsible for power distribution of 2/3 of the DR. The company also now is one of the major generators of power. The cable companies request that the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (INDOTEL) oppose that firm’s intent to win the tender for the project to supply, install and operate optical fiber cables on the high tension lines of the CDE. The cable companies say that no company should be granted a monopoly on these lines. They say they do not oppose the execution of the project but that Indotel should manage it and that all parties are allowed to participate. News reports say that in addition to the cable companies, others that have shown an interest are Codetel, Tricom, Centennial, ITT, Lucent Technology and Sprint.
