In a landmark move set to reshape the telecommunications landscape of the Dominican Republic, the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (Indotel) has awarded radio spectrum blocks to Vietnamese military-run telecom group Viettel and local incumbent operator Claro Dominicana. The allocation is the final outcome of an international tender launched earlier this year, designed to expand the availability of high-capacity telecommunications services and intensify market competition across the country.
The award decision, formalized through Resolution 73-2026, was passed unanimously by Indotel’s governing board, according to board president Guido Gómez Mazara. He emphasized that the tender process clears the way for Viettel to enter the Dominican market as an entirely new competitor, a shift that is projected to drive up service quality, disrupt stagnant pricing, and deliver tangible benefits to end consumers.
Under the terms of the award, Viettel secured a total of 240 MHz of spectrum across three key frequency bands, packaged in a 20-year operating concession. The allocation includes 40 MHz in the low-band 700 MHz spectrum, which is prized for wide-area coverage, 100 MHz in the 2.3 GHz mid-band, and an additional 100 MHz in the 3.6 GHz high-band, both of which support high-speed 5G services. Before the concession can be activated, Viettel is required to establish a locally registered Dominican entity to hold the spectrum license, complying with national regulatory requirements.
For existing market leader Claro Dominicana, the regulator allocated an additional 20 MHz of 700 MHz spectrum, which will be appended to the company’s current concession, extending through its remaining 15-year term.
One 30 MHz block in the AWS band was included in the tender offering but failed to attract any qualified bids, leading Indotel to declare the spectrum unclaimed for this round of allocation.
Both winning bidders are required to finalize their concession agreements or contractual addenda within a 90-day window from the award decision. To ease the financial burden of spectrum acquisition, tender rules allow up to 30 percent of the total payment obligation to be fulfilled through the execution of public telecommunications development projects selected and overseen by Indotel, tying private investment directly to national infrastructure expansion goals.
The tender, first launched in February 2026, aligns with the Dominican Republic’s General Telecommunications Law 153-98 and the country’s official National Frequency Allocation Plan. Its core objectives are to increase available spectrum for mobile and fixed wireless services, attract new foreign direct investment to the sector, and strengthen the country’s digital telecommunications infrastructure to support growing demand for high-speed connectivity.