Santo Domingo — Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader has doubled down on his administration’s pledge to inject greater competition into the country’s telecommunications sector, arguing that new market entrants will drive up service standards and cut consumer costs amid a decades-old concentrated market structure.
In remarks delivered during a public press briefing, Abinader specifically addressed the upcoming entry of a new Vietnamese-owned telecommunications provider, framing the move as a core part of his government’s broader economic agenda. That agenda centers on dismantling entrenched oligopolistic and monopolistic control across key domestic industries by opening closed markets to new domestic and international competitors, the president explained.
Current market dynamics leave the Dominican telecommunications sector heavily concentrated, Abinader revealed: roughly 95% of the entire market is controlled by just two dominant incumbent operators. As a direct result of this limited competition, local consumer telecommunications rates sit roughly 22% above the regional average for Latin America, he added. The president contended that expanded competition will force existing and new operators alike to ramp up investment in modern network technology, upgrade customer service offerings, and align pricing with more competitive regional benchmarks.
While the administration prioritizes supporting domestic Dominican investment, Abinader clarified that the country actively welcomes responsible investment from foreign firms based in allied nations, so long as those entities do not pose any identifiable threat to Dominican national security.
Speaking specifically to the incoming Vietnamese investment, Abinader noted that Vietnam maintains a strategic alliance with the United States, and emphasized that any telecommunications firm seeking to operate in the Dominican Republic is required to adhere strictly to international information security standards and regulatory safeguards. The president closed by reaffirming that the administration’s overarching goals are to foster fair, open competition across the sector, upgrade the quality of telecommunications services available to the public, and deliver tangible, long-term price reductions for all Dominican consumers.