Telecommunications

The Dominican Republic has a significantly advanced telecommunications system among Latin American countries. The country benefits greatly from technological advances in communication: home and cellular phones, fax, access to the internet (2G, 3G, and 4G networks, fiber optics, Wireless and Wi-Fi Access) and interconnected sites for “frame relay” commercial links, among many other advances.

The Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (INDOTEL, for its acronym in Spanish) is the State organization created by the General Law of Telecommunications No. 153-98 that regulates and supervises the development of the telecommunications framework in the Dominican Republic. Its mission is to regulate and promote the telecommunication services that benefit society, in an open and effective framework.

Main Indicators of the Telecommunications Sector in the Dominican Republic (2016)  

• Listado de emisoras en Frecuencia Modulada (FM)
• Listado de emisoras en Amplitud Modulada (AM)
• Canales de Televisión VHF-UHF
• Listado de Empresas Telefónicas en RD

Source: Instituto Dominicano de Telecomunicaciones (INDOTEL), http://indotel.gob.do

For more information and detailed statistics about the telecommunications system in the Dominican Republic, we recommend you also visit the website of the National Office of Statistics (ONE), in its section about technological information and communication statistics and communication (TICs): http://www.one.gob.do/Estadisticas/191/tecnologias-de-la-informacion-y-las-comunicaciones

Did you know? INDOTEL carried out an interesting chronology about important historical milestones concerning the telecommunications system in the Dominican Republic. It can be viewed here: http://indotel.gob.do/sobre-nosotros/origenes/

Did you know? El INDOTEL maintains a User Assistance Center, where they handle complaints, grievances and claims made by Dominican users of the telecommunications system before the supplier of aforementioned services. To communicate with the INDOTEL User Assistance Center and receive help, enter the following webpage:  http://indotel.gob.do/centro-de-asistencia-al-usuario/, Call by telephone 809-732-5555, Send a fax 829-732-3030, or write an email to: cau@indotel.gob.do.

Did you know? In the DR there are more than 15 businesses that offer internet services(2016). You can view the complete list of those providers here: http://wp.soldeva.com/indotel/sector-de-las-telecomunicaciones/internet-2/

Numerical Portability

Numerical portability is the right that users of telecommunication services have to preserve their telephone number when they change land line or mobile telephone services. In the Dominican Republic numerical portability, which entered into effect September 30, 2009, strengthens the right of users to choose their provider of mobile or land line telephone services, based on quality conditions and the price, without losing their phone number. Therefore, numerical portability promotes competition between telecommunication service providers and benefits users, by requiring businesses to improve their services with the purpose of maintaining their users and bringing in new clients.

History of Television in the Dominican Republic

Dominican television had its beginnings in the radio station, The Voice of Yuna, founded in 1943 in Bonao by Colonel Jose Aristmendy Trujillo Molina (Petan); the station was one of the first in Latin America.

By 1947, The Voice of Yuna was moved to Santo Domingo. Nineteen fifty one marked the completion of the building where the radio station was housed and what would soon become the site of the first Dominican television station.

At 12:00 noon on the first of August 1952, Dominican television made history when it broadcast its first images of comedy program, Peasant Romance (Romance Campesino) over the airwaves of Channel 4 of the Dominican Voice, then the new name for the Voice of Yuna.

The show went out on a T.T.5-A five-watt video transmitter in 2.5 audio, making the Dominican Republic the third country in Latin America, after Mexico and Cuba, to have television.

The equipment used was RCA, bought under an agreement between Jose Arismendy Trujillo Molina, Abraham Santamaria and Mr. Robert, the latter a US citizen. The engineer J.K. Gram of RCA came to the country to install the transmitter along with several other German and Polish technicians.

In 1953, the name Voice of Yuna was changed to Radio-TV Palace – the Dominican Voice, from which radio and TV broadcasts were made.

The first announcers, singers and comedians came from the Dominican Voice as a result of having set up schools to train people in song and locution.

Many renown national and international artists came from these training programs including Bobby Capo, Casandra Damirón, Elenita Santos; the comedians Tin Tan and Pildorín, Elsa Miranda, Eva Garza, Libertad Lamarque, Leo Cortez, Miguel Aceves Mejía, María Victoria, Tony Aguilar, María Antonieta Pons, Kid Gavilán and Pedro Vargas to name some of them.

One of the defining moments in Dominican television occurred in 1955 when they broadcast their first transmission in color: the opening activities of the Peace and Confraternity Fair of the Free World.

Since its founding, state-run television has gone through many phases and changes but it has always occupied the same headquarters on Doctor Tejada Street #8 in the Villa Consuelo sector of Santo Domingo. In 1965, the name was changed to Radio Television Dominicana (RTVD) then later Dominican Television, but soon changed back to RTDV. On July 29, 2003, the name was changed yet  again and, by law, it became the State Corporation for Radio and Television (CERTV), which it is still called today.

Today the Lulio Moscoso Museum exhibits memorabilia, photographs and documentation collected from the birth of Dominican television. The museum’s name is a tribute to one of the first technicians of the state-run radio and who, for forty years, worked in the service of the TV station.

Private Television

In 1959 the first private television station in the country was opened: Rahintel on Channel 7 with the important participation of Radhames Trujillo.

On November 30, 1969 “Color Vision” was opened in Santiago de los Caballeros becoming the first colorized television in the country and the third in Latin America. It was later moved to Santo Domingo, where it still operates through Channel 9.

Soon after Teleinde was inaugurated and began to broadcast from Channel 13. Another private television station, Telesistema on Channel 11 was opened in 1978 and the following year Teleantilles on Channels 2 and 13.

One of the most important innovations in recent years was the introduction of cable television, starting in 1981, by Telecable Nacional.

(This information was extracted from documentation stored at the Lulio Moscoso Museum, whose official knowledge was obtained by Decree Number 352-97 on August 2, 1997.