Protocol amending ECTEL Treaty signed

During the Caribbean Community’s (CARICOM) 39th Regular Meeting held in Montego Bay, Jamaica, the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) announced the signing of the Protocol Amending the Treaty  Establishing the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority ECTEL.

The announcement was made by Saint Lucia’s Prime Minister Allen Chastanet and Grenada’s Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, and will be presented to the prime ministers of the other ECTEL Member States – Dominica, St. Kitts and Nevis and St. Vincent and the Grenadines – for consideration and signature.

This protocol aims to address the innumerable changes and issues (such as convergence between services, networks and technologies, quality of service, consumer protection, and more affordable access to retail and wholesale telecommunications services) which have taken place in the telecommunications industry since the signing of the treaty establishing ECTEL eighteen years ago.

This protocol acts as a prerequisite for the promulgation of the Electronic Communications Bill and a new suite of regulations paving the way for ECTEL to address the many issues facing the telecommunications market today.