NewsWhore
06-01-2010, 02:30 PM
While most taxes are passed on to consumers, the telecom companies are blaming them for the fact that Internet service in the DR is of relatively poor quality and very expensive.
The Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel) reports that a poll by Net Index (speedtest.net (http://speedtest.net)) places the DR 154th of 178 countries tested in the world. The DR has a constant download speed of 0.73 Mb/s. Chile is the topped ranked Latin American country with 5.03Mb/s.
Internet expert Hiddekel Morrison says that low speeds and the fact that companies do not deliver what they sell is a constant complaint from users. He favored the construction of more submarine cables to increase connection speeds.
While the companies are calling for removal of taxes on the Internet as a way of making the service more available and with better speed for the public, Indotel director Jose Rafael Vargas insists that the phone companies need to do their bit and reduce their rates as well, as reported in Diario Libre. Yoneidi Castillo, executive director of the Dominican Association of Telecom Companies (Adomtel) said that the average tax in the Caribbean is 15.22% compared to 28% in the DR. Castillo said that 148 of the 152 countries listed in the speedtest.net poll have lower taxes than in the DR. He also called on government institutions to issue permits to install new cell towers saying that there is a saturation of existing towers.
Vargas said that Indotel seeks to encourage new entrepreneurs to offer Internet access and telephone communities here to create new competition. He reported that Columbus Network, the owners of the ARCOS I submarine cable will soon be in Santo Domingo with offering their submarine cable services -- the Caribbean NAP, which will offer an alternative connection to all the operators and providers of telecommunication services already in existence.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#4)
The Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel) reports that a poll by Net Index (speedtest.net (http://speedtest.net)) places the DR 154th of 178 countries tested in the world. The DR has a constant download speed of 0.73 Mb/s. Chile is the topped ranked Latin American country with 5.03Mb/s.
Internet expert Hiddekel Morrison says that low speeds and the fact that companies do not deliver what they sell is a constant complaint from users. He favored the construction of more submarine cables to increase connection speeds.
While the companies are calling for removal of taxes on the Internet as a way of making the service more available and with better speed for the public, Indotel director Jose Rafael Vargas insists that the phone companies need to do their bit and reduce their rates as well, as reported in Diario Libre. Yoneidi Castillo, executive director of the Dominican Association of Telecom Companies (Adomtel) said that the average tax in the Caribbean is 15.22% compared to 28% in the DR. Castillo said that 148 of the 152 countries listed in the speedtest.net poll have lower taxes than in the DR. He also called on government institutions to issue permits to install new cell towers saying that there is a saturation of existing towers.
Vargas said that Indotel seeks to encourage new entrepreneurs to offer Internet access and telephone communities here to create new competition. He reported that Columbus Network, the owners of the ARCOS I submarine cable will soon be in Santo Domingo with offering their submarine cable services -- the Caribbean NAP, which will offer an alternative connection to all the operators and providers of telecommunication services already in existence.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#4)