{"id":3679,"date":"2012-04-18T08:50:55","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T13:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ict-pulse.com\/?p=3679"},"modified":"2012-04-18T09:06:00","modified_gmt":"2012-04-18T14:06:00","slug":"why-antigua-barbuda-may-never-join-ectel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2012\/04\/why-antigua-barbuda-may-never-join-ectel\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Antigua & Barbuda may never join ECTEL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Antigua and Barbuda is not a member of the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL), and is unlikely to join in the foreseeable future. This post suggests reasons why\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Last week, members of the Antigua and Barbuda Government with responsibility for telecoms attended a workshop in Saint Lucia hosted by the sub-regional regulatory body, the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL). The workshop, which was a consultation on a proposed electronic communications bill, signalled publicly that a closer relationship with ECTEL was being sought by that twin island state. Representatives for both parties were guarded in their statements to the press about the future of their relationship, but it may seem odd intrinsically that Antigua and Barbuda, as a full member of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), is not a member of the ECTEL grouping, which itself is an OECS institution. This post explores why although Antigua and Barbuda might be eager to strengthen ties with ECTEL, they are unlikely to join that group in the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

The ECTEL context<\/h3>\n

The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) was established by Treaty signed on 4 May 2000, by five of the six full member countries of the OECS \u2013 Saint Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. However, prior to that, in 1998, those five countries jointly embarked upon pro-competitive reform of their telecommunications sectors, under a World Bank \u2013supported \u201cTelecommunications Sector Reform Project\u201d.\u00a0 The resulting regulatory machinery comprises a two-tiered system: a local regulator in each of the Member States \u2013 the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commissions (NTRCs), and a regional body, ECTEL, at the hub (Figure 1).<\/p>\n

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Figure 1: Arrangement of the OECS regional regulatory machinery comprising ECTEL and the NTRCs (Source: ICT Pulse)<\/p><\/div>\n

In keeping with the Treaty<\/a>, ECTEL is charged with ensuring, among other things:<\/p>\n