The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL), together with the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC) is pleased to join forces with the Government of Dominica towards the fight against COVID-19. The NTRC donated USD $10,000 (XCD $27,169) to the Ministry of Health and Wellness on behalf of ECTEL.
The Board of Directors and the Council of Ministers of ECTEL, together with the Commission and Secretariat of the NTRC, express their thanks and gratitude to the frontline personnel in this fight, and reiterates the call by our Member States’ governments and health authorities to follow all safety protocols to contain the spread of COVID-19. It is the hope that the fight against COVID-19 will continue to be successful in Dominica and the region, and into the reopening of our economics.
In receiving the funds, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Letitia Lestrade-Wyke, thanked the ECTEL and the NTRC on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Wellness for the kind donation.
Craig Nesty, Executive Director of the NTRC said that in addition to this donation, which he knows will go a long way in assisting the government in the fight against COVID-19, the Commission has been working tirelessly with the service providers to provide solutions for those especially on the East coast who has been without a cost-effective Internet service since hurricane Maria and have been forced to study and work from home during this pandemic.
Unfortunately, it is taking longer than expected as the NTRC wants to ensure that the service providers provide a service comparable to that prior to hurricane Maria or that of the West Coast.
The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) in marking its twentieth year of existence on May 4th 2020, will continue to promote open entry, market liberalization and competition in electronic communications in its five Member States: the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
I believe the NTRC should had advocated for that donation from ECTEL to be used to purchase mobile data packages for the online students in the under-serve broadband communities.
The propose PLAN::
1. Advertise a raffle for $500 data plan for 54 online distance learning students in the under-service internet communities ( The communities NTRC will identify ).
2. Interested students would need to provide documentation of online study, mobile phone, village …etc to the NTRC office to participate in the raffle.
3. Set a date for the raffle and have these folks benefits from a donation from a Telecom entity(ECTEL) as the financial impact on the students is direct related to Covid-19.
This is the out the box thinking that is required by the NRTC while they canvas for cost effective internet access for the under-serve communities