The Dominican telecom reform is moving into an important early stage as the Dominican Republic considers a broad modernization of its telecommunications framework. On August 14, 2026, the Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciones (INDOTEL) presented the proposed Ley General de Telecomunicaciones, Infraestructura Digital y Conectividad, intended to update the legal structure currently based on Law 153-98.
At this stage, the initiative has been presented to the Legal Consultancy of the Executive Branch. INDOTEL also indicated that a dialogue process involving operators, users, academia, experts, entrepreneurs, and civil society organizations will take place before the proposal is submitted to the National Congress. Therefore, the proposal should currently be viewed as a regulatory roadmap rather than an enforceable compliance framework.
What the Dominican telecom reform proposes
A central objective of the reform is to adapt the telecommunications framework to technological convergence and the evolution of digital infrastructure. The proposal would update definitions and extend regulatory concepts to technologies and services functionally connected to telecommunications while strengthening principles such as technological neutrality, service neutrality, network neutrality, and digital security.
Moreover, the reform would expand INDOTEL’s role. The reform outline contemplates strengthening its regulatory and technical autonomy and redefining its role so that it can act as the governing body of the national digital ecosystem within the scope established by the proposed framework.
The proposal also addresses data centers and other critical network elements. The reform outline considers mechanisms such as registration, resilience requirements, contingency planning, continuity obligations, and coordination with the national cybersecurity framework. However, these concepts remain part of the proposed legal direction and would require further regulatory development.
Licensing, infrastructure and spectrum modernization
One of the most significant structural changes would be a simplified authorization system for convergent services. The proposal contemplates a single licensing approach for electronic communications and ICT services, while maintaining individual licenses for spectrum use and satellite services.
Additionally, the proposed framework would modernize public procedures for assigning radio spectrum and authorize more advanced spectrum-management mechanisms. The reform outline refers to auctions and public bidding, spectrum sharing, dynamic spectrum use, refarming, technological neutrality in licensed bands, and concentration limits intended to promote efficient use of this scarce public resource.
Infrastructure deployment would also receive greater attention. The proposal identifies passive infrastructure sharing as a matter of public interest and contemplates simplified administrative and municipal procedures for the deployment of next-generation digital infrastructure.
User protection, cybersecurity and competition
The Dominican telecom reform would introduce dedicated areas for user protection and cybersecurity. Proposed user protections include service quality and continuity, transparent information, accessibility, privacy, personal-data considerations, and protections involving unsolicited communications.
The cybersecurity provisions would give INDOTEL clearer authority to develop future requirements addressing network integrity, availability and resilience. They would also allow future adoption of international security standards and obligations applicable to telecommunications providers and certain OTT, IoT, or other platforms when functionally connected to the telecommunications system.
Furthermore, the proposal seeks to modernize sector competition rules. It contemplates periodic competition studies, possible regulatory intervention where effective competition is absent, and stronger institutional authority for INDOTEL within the telecommunications sector.
What this means for equipment compliance
The reform outline specifically calls for a future review of equipment homologation rules, taking interoperability and digital security into account. Nevertheless, the current proposal does not establish new equipment certification requirements, technical standards, effective dates, or immediate conformity-assessment obligations. Those details would depend on future secondary regulations issued after the legislative framework advances.
For companies monitoring regulatory change in the Dominican Republic, the proposal should therefore remain on the radar as a potentially significant source of future secondary regulations and consultations.
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Impact Assessment
- Technical Standards? ❌ No
- Type Approval & Market Access? ❌ No
- Imports, Customs, Trade, or Market Surveillance? ❌ No
- Spectrum Management? ❌ No
