The president of the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (Indotel), Guido Gómez Mazara, accused some internet service providers on Wednesday, 23 April 2025, of cheating consumers by delivering less than promised.
Gómez Mazara, speaking on the radio program El Despertador, stated that “the famous little packages sold to people deceive them,” citing a recent study conducted jointly with the National Statistics Office (ONE).
He identified combating these scams as one of the primary challenges facing Indotel, the regulatory body for these services. “They sell a product at a certain price, but it doesn’t match what they deliver,” he said. “With Indotel’s new resolutions, we are forcing companies to increase service quality.”
He explained that Indotel has issued specific regulations “to protect consumers and ensure they receive what they pay for.”
Gómez Mazara also warned about deceptive marketing practices and an unregulated market evading taxes, specifically mentioning “wiferos” – intermediaries who offer internet connectivity in areas where official providers have no coverage. While acknowledging their role in filling a gap, he emphasized the illegality of their operations.
“Since they operate irregularly, they generate income without paying taxes to the state,” he stated. However, he added that Indotel is working on a process to formalize these “wiferos.” “The first step is giving many of them legal status,” he said.
As reported in Diario Libre, Indotel recognized that only 21.5% of the population has a good quality connection, according to the “Significant Connectivity” report published by Indotel and the National Statistics Office (ONE) in 2024, using data from the 2022 National Census.
Read more in Spanish:
El Despertador
Noticias SIN
Diario Libre
24 April 2025