Carlos Amarante Baret, president of the executive committee of the Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel) has said in a press release issued yesterday, Tuesday 15 January, that they are opposed to the RD$20 increase in the cost of telephone services in order to finance a national 911 emergency service, as proposed by a potential new law currently being debated in Congress.
He said that the new tax would be to the detriment of the country’s telecommunications industry and reminded that at the moment telecoms users already paid 30% tax in total, made up of 18% sales tax (ITBIS), 10% income tax and 2% for the Telecommunications Development Fund (FDT).
He went on to say that although he realized that the State had to cover the costs of implementing a 911 service, it was counterproductive to raise it in this way. He said that all the technical and operational elements of the service had to be analyzed including the redirection of calls, identification of cell phone calls, guarantees of rapid response of emergency services, numbers and type of employees and also the provision of private services such as ambulances and helicopters.
www.diariolibre.com/noticias/2013/01/15/i367656_indotel-opone-que-cobren-rd20-para-financiar-911.html