Durrant Pate/ Contributor

The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) in Castries, St Lucia and representatives of four national telecommunications regulatory commissions (NTRC) in the Eastern Caribbean have signed a historic information sharing memorandum of understanding (MOU).

The pact was signed during a virtual signing ceremony held on Tuesday, October 3. The NTRCs represented were from Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis and St Vincent and the Grenadines. As part of the deal Jamaica’s utilities regulatory, the Office of Utilities Regulation, will play a pivotal role in the regional pact.

The signing of the MOU signals the start of the partnership between the entities through Jamaica’s Office of Utilities Regulation’s Information Centre (OURIC), a special library which contains industry-specific and regulatory information and resources on matters pertinent to the mandate of the OUR and relevant to ECTEL and the NTRCs in the execution of their responsibilities.

OURIC is a one-of-a-kind library providing regulatory and other such relevant information utilising online catalogues, research databases, ebooks, etc. It is open to members of the public.

The MOU sets out the framework for sharing information and resources between the signatories. It also provides guidance on the sharing, use and handling of information and resources and establishes the procedures and requirements of the information and resource-sharing partnership.

Historic MOU being hailed

Speaking at the signing ceremony, OUR’s Director-General Ansord Hewitt said that the project was initiated by the OUR three years ago. It started firstly with the augmentation of OURIC resources to facilitate the partnership and then discussions began in earnest with regional regulators two years ago.

He said, “Today, we have representatives from six countries on this virtual platform ready to sign: St. Lucia, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, and, of course, Jamaica. It is testimony to our shared philosophy that we in the region are better together.”

Continuing, Hewitt said: “It (MOU) also accords with my own thinking that while our regional leaders continue to work at the macro and state levels to foster regional integration, we can at the institutional level, take practical steps such as we are doing today, to deepen cooperation and by so doing make our own incremental contribution.”

In welcoming the move, Cheryl Hector Fontenelle, acting managing director of ECTEL, the regulatory advisory body to the NTRCs, remarked: “We look at this MOU as a framework for sharing of information and resources and view it as an opportunity for us to strengthen the ongoing collaboration among ECTEL, OUR and the NTRCs. The idea of collaboration is embodied in our Electronic Communications Bill (EC Bill) legislation here in the Eastern Caribbean, which has enshrined the fact that ECTEL and the NTRCs should share information with similar organisations where necessary.”

Committed to doing better

It is against the background that, Hector-Fontenelle argued that the organisations can do more together than on their own, stating that the MOU signing, therefore, is indicative of this commitment. Speaking on behalf of the NTRCs, CEO of NTRC – St Kitts and Nevis, Ervin Williams, lauded the initiative and said the OUR is an excellent resource for expert guidance and regulatory support for other Caribbean regulators.

He pointed out that ECTEL and the NTRCs will be able partners in this agreement, especially given the diverse perspectives on the treatment of regulatory matters across the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). Under the MOU, the six entities will share resources through electronic document/content delivery and, where applicable, the OUR will provide access to its Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) to make requests and reservations for resources and deliver content electronically to the requesting party.

The signatories agree to include the other parties in any outgoing electronic mail to the public on regulatory matters, among other things.