ECTEL 50th Board of Directors Meeting

Castries, 9th February 2010 – The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) will convene the fiftieth meeting of its Board of Directors in Saint Lucia on February 24th, 2010. The meeting is being held as ECTEL prepares to launch its programme of activities in observance of the tenth year of the establishment of the regulatory authority.

Among the main agenda items for the Board Meeting is the report of a consultant on the review of the legislation governing the operation of ECTEL. These include the Treaty signed by the five countries which established ECTEL, and the Telecommunications Acts which paved the way for the creation of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commissions (NTRCs) in each of the five countries. The ECTEL Member States are Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Also on the agenda for the fiftieth meeting are matters related to spectrum management, the regulation of services through Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and the status of implementation of pilot projects on Information Communication and Technology (ICT) and Universal Service.

The meeting will be held at the Bay Gardens Hotel on Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th February 2010.

The ECTEL Treaty was signed in 2000 in Grenada. The main purposes of ECTEL include the promotion of open entry, market liberalisation and competition in the telecommunications sector in the sub region, the facilitation of fair pricing and the use of cost-based pricing methods, and the increased penetration of telecommunications services. ECTEL achieves its work through the development of regulations and the facilitation of national consultations on regulations and procedures.