The president of the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (Indotel), Nelson Arroyo, reported yesterday that among the goals of that unit for 2022 is the acquisition of almost half a million signal “converter boxes”, in order to transform analog televisions into digital ones. .
“We set ourselves a series of plans, one of them is to launch an international tender to buy the converter boxes that will transform analog television into digital,” the official said.
According to Arroyo, some 450,000 converter boxes will be tendered with an estimated unit price of between 25 and 30 dollars.
Likewise, he announced that the project will cover only those citizens who do not have digital televisions, that is, for those whose television signal is open and are not subscribed to any cable service.
Impact
When approached about the benefits and impact that this initiative would have for Dominican telecommunications, the head of Indotel maintained that it would substantially improve the quality of the image. “It allows us to be at the level of international standards and also promotes energy savings,” he added.
Arroyo explained that the company that wins the tender will have the opportunity to associate with a local distribution company and, in this way, it is guaranteed that “every citizen who needs it, acquires his little box.”
“This is a social investment, it cannot be said that it will have a rate of return, in this case it is a project that is aimed at the poorest areas, which will provide a balance in terms of telecommunications between those who have more and those who have less. they have,” he said.
With the start of transmission of open-to-digital television signals, users who receive this signal, among them the beneficiaries of converter boxes, will be able to enjoy high-definition images and better audio quality.
Expansion
Likewise, he announced that they will bring broadband internet to some 26 municipalities of the national territory, whose connectivity is poor or that do not have fixed networks with access to this service.
“It is the objective of Indotel that the largest number of Dominicans have access to fiber optics and thus raise the quality of the internet they receive and reduce that gap in digital services,” he said.
As explained by the official, the areas that will be part of the initiative were previously evaluated thanks to the indicators of the social assistance program Supérate, which noted a marked “lack of connectivity” in those demarcations.
The president of Indotel spoke at a discussion held yesterday at the Corripio Communications Group, which was led by José Monegro, director of the newspaper El Día.
During the talk, various topics related to the reality of the country in terms of telecommunications were addressed, such as connectivity, digital divide, electronic theft and cybersecurity.
FIGURES 70% use mobile internet.
The head of Indotel indicated that 70% of the Dominican population uses mobile internet, while 34% is a fixed internet user, and although these figures are positive compared to previous years, he noted that “having an internet signal does not necessarily mean translates to having a quality internet signal”.
Optical fiber.
When asked about the connectivity gap that exists in the Dominican Republic, Arroyo specified that Indotel plans to bring fiber optics to some 17 communities in the southern region, an area where, he said, the highest rate of digital divide is concentrated.