CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC—The St. Lucia-based Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) is marking its 25th anniversary, saying it remains committed to fostering a connected, sustainable, and inclusive digital future for the people of its five contracting states.
ECTEL serves as the regulatory body responsible for electronic communications in Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It aims to promote open markets, fair competition, and harmonized policies to ensure efficient and modern electronic communications services for all.
“The creation and establishment of ECTEL, including the march to liberalization from monopoly, and all the political and social drama that attended it, is a unique and remarkable story about the ingenuity and resilience of the people of the Eastern Caribbean,” sad ECTEL’s managing director, David Cox.
“Those of us who have had the privilege to work with ECTEL are proud to be carrying on the legacy of those visionaries who saw the need to create the institution. We continue to fight every day to improve the lives of the people we serve by working to bring down prices, improve the quality of their services, and enable the most advanced technology we can,” he added.
In a statement marking the anniversary, ECTEL said some of its key milestones include an exponential fall in prices for all electronic communications services in the subregion, the implementation of Mobile Number Portability in 2019, and the establishment of the Universal Service Fund (USF) in 2008.
“Through the dedicated work of National Telecommunications Regulatory Commissions (NTRCs), USF projects have enabled or promoted affordable and even free access to electronic communications services and devices for members of the public in all contracting states, and benefitted low-income households, persons with disabilities, schools, community Wi-Fi points, health centers, and police stations.”
ECTEL said that to celebrate its 25th anniversary, it will launch several activities, including its ’25 Years, 25 Questions’ trivia contest in May, a “Girls in ICT” competition for students, a special episode of ECTEL Bytes, and the airing of a special commemorative public service announcement outlining some of ECTEL’s significant accomplishments since its establishment in 2000 on all its social media platforms.
It said a longer, specially commissioned documentary would also be part of the celebrations, highlighting some of the organization’s achievements and challenges over the past quarter-century and its work to collaborate with NTRCs to positively impact people’s lives in the subregion.
ECTEL said it will launch the Pearl Allison Lake (P.A.L) Scholarship Fund in early June in memory of one of its longest-serving staff members, who died last year.
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