Dominican Republic : Leveraging Competition in the Telecom Sector to Accelerate Economic Growth
Limited competition hinders the optimal use of telecommunication services in the Dominican Republic, which lags peer countries in mobile subscriptions and internet penetration. Despite recent reforms designed to enhance competition, the telecommuni...
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| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/203161623989071011/Dominican-Republic-Leveraging-Competition-in-the-Telecom-Sector-to-Accelerate-Economic-Growth http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35859 |
| Summary: | Limited competition hinders the optimal
use of telecommunication services in the Dominican Republic,
which lags peer countries in mobile subscriptions and
internet penetration. Despite recent reforms designed to
enhance competition, the telecommunications sector remains
dominated by a small number of companies. In addition, the
antimonopoly policy is perceived to be weak compared to
regional peers. High infrastructure costs limit the economic
viability of replicating key facilities, creating
bottlenecks. Fixed telecom prices have remained largely
unresponsive to changes in demand over the last eight years.
Moreover, prices for both mobile communications and fixed
broadband are higher in the DR than in peer countries.
Following the World Bank Group’s Markets and Competition
Policy Assessment Toolkit (MCPAT), this policy note provides
a brief overview of key bottlenecks affecting the
telecommunications sector, as well as key pro-competition
reforms that could improve the regulatory landscape. Due to
its inherent characteristics, the telecommunications
markets, fixed, mobile and internet, in DR are concentrated.
Currently, there are three main operators in the fixed,
mobile and internet markets, with few smaller operators
having a residual market share in the fixed and internet
markets. While market concentration is common in the
telecommunication sector in many countries, the interaction
between market characteristics and the regulatory framework
for telecommunications is key to yield efficient market
outcomes in terms of prices, quality and access to services. |
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