The experience of the Dominican Republic in the development of innovative strategies for the
promotion of information and communication technologies
Eighth Global Symposium for Regulators
Pattaya (Thailand), 11-13 March 2008
The task of narrowing the digital divide in the Dominican Republic involves enormous challenges
in terms of the availability of telecommunication network infrastructure, access to the Internet and
the population's proficiency in the use of these technologies, all of which are crucial aspects of the
digital divide. To measure these variables, an information and communication technology (ICT)
empowerment index has been calculated for the country's provinces, using ITU's ICT Opportunity
Index as the methodological basis.
FIGURE 1
Esp
Daj
0.325 SRod
0.391
EP
0.044
SJ
0.228
Ind
0.254
Ped
0.168
0.457
PP
0.561
MC
0.270
Bao
0.204
0.762 or more
Sal
0.430
0.523 - 0.761
0.284 - 0.522
Valv
0.374
0.283 or less
MTS
Dua 0.395
0.481
Stgo
0.689
LV
0.437
Az
0.228
SRam
0.401
MN
0.510
SJO
0.188
Sam 0.376
MP
0.284
SC DN+SD
0.436
1.000
HM
0.324
SPM
0.510
ES
0.235
LR
0.583
LA
0.451
Per
0.382
Bar
0.328
The results of the survey show a large imbalance among the 32 provinces that make up the national
territory of the Dominican Republic. This can be seen in Figure 1. The province that has the greatest
degree of ICT empowerment is the Distrito Nacional (the capital region, including the province of
Santo Domingo). Only three of the provinces are in the "medium-to-high" range, namely Santiago,
La Romana and Puerto Plata, corresponding to the telecommunication infrastructure put in
place by the country's main providers. The remaining 27 provinces are in the "low-to-medium"
-2-
or "low" range, and correspond essentially to the poorest provinces with the lowest level of human
development (the lowest is Elías Piña, followed by Pedernales, San José de Ocoa and Bahoruco).
To deal with this situation, the Dominican Republic has, within the framework of its national
strategy for the development of the information and knowledge society (e-Dominicana), set in
motion a policy for public investment focusing on the long-term promotion of universal access to
ICTs, with particular emphasis on sustainable economic growth and the development of human
capital under conditions of social equity, with the aim of ensuring that the country's entire
population has the skills needed to use ICTs and enjoys the necessary physical conditions – in terms
of a reasonable distance from the place of residence – and affordable prices.
Three strategic projects have been carried out in the framework of this national strategy, under the
responsibility of INDOTEL through the Telecommunication Development Fund and with publicprivate alliances involving the private sector and civil society. The period 2001-2005 saw the
implementation of the rural public telephony project, which had an impact on 31 of the country's 32
provinces and benefited 2 250 small rural communities that had previously had no access
whatsoever to telecommunication services. It is estimated that almost the entire rural population is
now able to obtain access to domestic and international communications within a radius of ten
kilometres. It is worth noting that, for the rural inhabitants of the Dominican Republic, the
availability of not only domestic, but also international communications is of vital importance,
given the significant levels of emigration, and the fact that the largest number of emigrants come
from the country's rural areas.
FIGURE 2
Public ICT access centres per 10 000 inhabitants
Legend
Legend
7.27
más
7.27o or
more
7.27 or more
PP
1.08
MC
6.37
Daj
8.51
SRod
9.49
Ind
7.30
Dua
1.35
Stgo
2.39
LV
2.52
Az
1.94
MN
1.87
SJO
3.66
Per
2.04
Bar
2.56
5.04 to 7.26
2.80
to5.03
5.03
2.80
5.03
2.80a to
2.79 or
2.70
or
less a 2.79
Menor
oless
igual
SJ
0.70
Bao 4.06
5.04
7.26
5.04a to
7.26
Sal
4.94
Valv
1.01
EP
6.38
Ped
5.10
Esp
3.40
SRam
1.14
SC
1.22
MTS
2.38
Sam 3.28
MP
2.70
DN+SD
2.48
HM
1.57
SPM
6.01
ES
2.89
LR
0.56
LA
0.59
Source: HDO/UNDP, based on data collected by CNSIC (national
commission on the information and knowledge society), with
information provided by Indotel, the office of the First Lady, and
the secretaries of state for education and for young people
-3-
The second major initiative has to do with the installation of public ICT access centres (PIAC), in a
strategic joint venture with Dominican civil society entities such as community-based organizations,
religious institutions, development NGOs, municipalities, colleges, public libraries, universities,
healthcare centres and so on. By December 2007, the number of PIACs countrywide was estimated
at 616, for an average of 2.1 centres for every 10 000 inhabitants, or one for every 5 336
inhabitants. This has had an impact on the country's 32 provinces, it being noteworthy that the
highest concentration of PIACs is to be found in the poorest provinces, directly benefiting 40 per
cent of the country's municipalities and municipal districts – a potentially-served population of 2.5
million people, or 36 per cent of the total population over the age of five. In other words, these
centres are giving the poorest one-third or so of the population the possibility to use computers and
the Internet and hence an opportunity to gain digital literacy, making ICTs a genuine tool for
promoting the social and economic development of the citizens, male and female alike, of our
country's rural towns and localities.
The third strategic project for the Dominican Republic focuses on broadband rural connectivity. It
was launched in 2007 with two pilot projects in two rural communities without any form of
connectivity, and with the determined support of the private sector, which agreed to carry out the
project without any funding from the Telecommunication Development Fund. Through this
initiative, the backbone and the access network for small cable operators will be installed, using
existing optical fibre cable, in order to meet the broadband Internet access and basic residential
telephony service needs of the 319 municipalities and municipal districts (84 per cent of the total)
that currently lack such services. That figure includes 189 rural communities, many of which are
already benefiting from the IT training centres and community technology centres that are being set
up within the framework of the PIAC project. A second component of this project concerns
capacity-building for the launching of new ICT-based business models. To this end, small cable
companies and other small-scale operators are being given training in technical and regulatory
aspects, with the involvement of university students and engineers capable of contributing to the
development of successful business models for the provisioning and management of the new local
operators.
On the regulatory side, it is to be noted that INDOTEL has declared free access to the international
submarine cable network capacity and landing points to be a "vital resource". This decision will
have the effect of lowering the cost of delivering Internet access to the various companies
competing on the national market, thereby fostering competition and ensuring more affordable
prices for the user community.
The universal access model pursued by the Dominican Republic, which serves as an overall action
framework for the above-mentioned projects, can be summarized as follows:
•
Reducing the distance to the nearest public telephone for rural and low-income populations.
•
Providing the country's population with the skill-sets necessary for making effective use of
computers, the Internet, and other strategic resources to make ICTs into a tool for social and
economic development for the benefit of young people and people with low incomes.
•
Financing service infrastructure so as to improve broadband access.
•
Using regulation to foster competition, and declaring any service infrastructures that it
would be uneconomical to duplicate as "vital resources".
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