Size of Domestic IT Market

General Information:

• The Dominican Republic located in the Caribbean, on the eastern two-thirds of the island of Hispaniola, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, east of Haiti
• Capital: Santo Domingo
• Also called Republica Dominicana and La Dominicana
• Slightly more than twice the size of New Hampshire, the Dominican Republic is a total of 48,730 square kilometers
• Population: 9,183,984
• 0-14 years old: 32.6%; 14-64 years old: 61.9%; 65 years and old: 5.5%
• GDP: $73.74 billion; GDP growth was strong until 2003, when growth turned negative as a result of reduced tourism, a major bank fraud and limited growth in the US economy (1)

IT Specifics:

• Telecommunication generates over 10% of the GDP, versus 5.8% in 2005
• Growth is strong in the cellular sub-sector, and Internet growth has continued at 15% per year in the past 6 years
• There are 944,334 main telephone lines in use
• 1/2 of the population utilizes cellular telephones, with 4,558,351 in use throughout the country
• 25 television broadcast stations are available, while there are 120 AM radio stations, 56 FM stations and 4 shortwave stations
• 4 major competitors, including Verizon, Tricon, France Telecom and Centennial Communications; Verizon dominates the market
• 183,876 internet accounts in use, less than 2% of the population
• 938,300 internet users, accounting for 100 out of 1,000 people, meaning that approximately 5 people share one account (2) (3)