Listin Diario economic section’s carries today a report on the profitability of the telecommunications industry in the DR. It also says that local consumers want the phone companies to reduce the cost of their services, given that they were raised when the peso’s value was at a peak low compared to the US dollar at a rate of RD$50 to US$1. With the recent escalation of the peso to RD$30 to US$1, consumers have been left waiting for a price adjustment that has yet to occur. Listin Diario reports that the tax collected by Indotel, the Dominican Telecommunications Institute, shows a surplus of RD$238.9 million from January to November. Indotel has financial certificates in savings for RD$450 million, and thus a yield of RD$91 million. Of the global revenues that Indotel receives, 70% are the product of the 2% tax on telecom services.
Indotel is legally obliged to defend the interest of consumers of telecom services.
In the Dominican Republic, 10% of the population has residential telephone service and 30% has mobile phone service.