Tricom Airtime

Tricom, S.A or simply Tricom, is one of the largest mobile service providers in the Dominican Republic. It came into existence in 1990 after Swan Isidro Teleport was formed under the existing telecommunication provider Zona Franca de San Isidro.

The Swan Isidro was to be renamed Tricom S.A. It is led by the 73 year old MR. Hector Castro Niboa with Mr. Erwin Mendez serving as his vice president.

Beside mobile telephony Tricom branched out to the cable TV service through HDTV Cable TV as well as internet services through their nationwide mobile services.

Growth and Development

Two years after renaming to Tricom the communication firm set out to develop long distance call facilities and made their entry into the international call services.

Tricom was to later sign a deal with Motorola giving them a 40% stake in the firm with a plan of up scaling their international calls services and infrastructure. After this deal Tricom entered another strategic deal with the market leading mobile firm CODETEL to further boost their reach and strength of their network.

It is also during this period that they developed their prepaid card the ‘Effectiva.’ The firm has relied on its connecta to mundo logo until 2011 when they carried out a major rebranding campaign. The deal with Motorola enabled them to roll out new and innovative installations and even set up the Tricom USA subsidiary.

Innovations and Market Share

When they floated 5.7 million shares of common stock in the New York Stock Exchange Tricom S.A. became the first Domincan firm to list in the US stock market. A decade after rebranding, Tricom has become the largest firm in the industry raking in 68% of the market share, including 300, 000 customers in the telecommunication market.

2012 was a great year for Tricom as they rolled out their 4G-LTE network and began the construction of the hybrid fibre-coaxial network in at least nine regions around the Dominican Republic. Five years after signing onto the New York Security Exchange, the company’s board made a decision to delist from the stock exchange.

Tricom is the first Dominican mobile provider to launch LTE for mobiles telephony platform. They are also the second overall Dominican firm to launch the LTE after Orange Dominica. Throughout its history Tricom has always tried to stay ahead of the game through innovations and mergers.

It is the second firm to launch Video-on-demand services, a highly successful field that has seen its rivals clamouring for the market segment. As of early 2014 the firm had 1700 employees and it was operating as a subsidiary of the Altice Caribean S.a.r.l. Group.