The Compañia Dominicana de Telefonos (CODETEL) has imposed a 100% increase for calls made from its public telephones, and in recent months has raised the price of additional minutes used on local calls by private subscribers by 400%. In a press release, CODETEL claims that the increases are due to its inability to subsidize local calls with international calls. The competition from new long distance companies with little or no local service has cut considerably into what was practically a CODETEL long distance monopoly. With its prior dominance in the market, the ATT subsidiary was able to charge relatively low prices for local calls and make up the difference in long distance services.
Until last June, a local call from a public telephone cost RD$1 for three minutes; that cost has been doubled to RD$2, which reflects CODETEL’s efforts to stay competitive with the other telephone companies, explains the press release.
1-7 March 1996