The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) in collaboration with the Organisation of the Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission staged a four-day Market Competition Assessment and Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) Frameworks Capacity Building Workshop from October 19th – 22nd at the Finance Administrative Centre in Castries, Saint Lucia. The initiative falls under the Caribbean Digital Transformation Project (CARDTP), which is funded by the World Bank and was chaired by the consulting firm Network Strategies Limited. The attendees were members of the ECTEL team and representatives from the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commissions (NTRCs) across ECTEL’s five Contracting States of the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
According to Ms. Cheryl Hector Fontenelle, ECTEL’s Director of Economics and Finance, “CARDTP is part of the wider strategy by the governments to establish digital economies and to achieve this, it is essential for your telecommunications sector to operate efficiently. The Market Competition Assessment and RIA Frameworks will help us (ECTEL) to strengthen our evidence base and transparent ways of making decisions. It will also help the NTRCs respond more efficiently and effectively to players in the sector.” Ms. Fontenelle issued a call to action for attendees to actively participate in sessions, sharing their examples or concerns they have experienced, so that the framework being taught could be used to address them in due course. She also said it is hoped that at the end of the capacity building exercise participants would be able to translate what they learned to take a more analytical approach toward their decision-making process. \u200b
In providing an overview of RIA, Ms. Noelle Jones, one of the consultants, reiterated the need for the RIA to be comprehensive and transparent for the stakeholders. She went on to explain that often the report will be provided to stakeholders and they need to be able to follow the decision-making process because we want to avoid cases whereby the stakeholders believe that there was insufficient information presented to justify why a particular decision was made.
Under the Market Competition Assessment component of the workshop, Dr. Suella Hansen also of Network Strategies Limited provided insight into how ECTEL and the NTRCs can identify and assess anti-competitive behaviour by service providers. She noted that there are myriad ways in which providers could misuse their market power such as through predatory pricing, refusal to supply, discrimination and access pricing, exclusive dealing, tying or bundling and conditional discounts.
In addition to the Market Competition Assessment and RIA Frameworks, Ms. Fontenelle indicated that in the upcoming weeks and months the public will be informed about other activities under the wider Caribbean Digital Transformation Project. \u200b These activities include Quality of Service and Quality of Experience; the updating of the Governance, Legal and Regulatory Framework; and a project on Network Resilience and how we can respond effectively to emergencies.
The consultation documents for the Market Competition Assessment and Regulatory Impact Assessment Frameworks can be accessed at:
https://www.ectel.int/consultations/recommendation-for-market-competition-assessment-methodology
About ECTEL:
The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) is the regulatory body responsible for electronic communications in its five Contracting States: Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. ECTEL aims to promote open markets, fair competition, and harmonised policies to ensure efficient and modern electronic communications services for all.
Media Contact:
Visit us at www.ectel.int or follow us @ectel on Facebook and YouTube and @ectelauthority on Instagram, X and LinkedIn for more information about our work.
For further information, please contact:
Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL)
\u200bTel: (758) 458-1701/2
Email: ectel@ectel.int
", "header": { "large": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/b5868af3-2e4b-4f44-8aab-693d3895d4d1/-/crop/1247x825/0,281/-/preview/-/preview/1200x1200/-/format/auto/", "release": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/b5868af3-2e4b-4f44-8aab-693d3895d4d1/-/crop/1247x825/0,281/-/preview/-/preview/1200x1200/-/format/auto/" }, "images": [ { "caption": "", "original": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/17458210-5c6b-452a-850d-4ec72d35c0ca/", "medium": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/17458210-5c6b-452a-850d-4ec72d35c0ca/-/preview/500x500/-/format/auto/", "small": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/17458210-5c6b-452a-850d-4ec72d35c0ca/-/preview/200x200/-/format/auto/", "thumbnail": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/17458210-5c6b-452a-850d-4ec72d35c0ca/-/preview/100x100/-/format/auto/", "square": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/17458210-5c6b-452a-850d-4ec72d35c0ca/-/scale_crop/200x200/center/-/format/auto/", "squaresmall": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/17458210-5c6b-452a-850d-4ec72d35c0ca/-/scale_crop/58x58/center/-/format/auto/" }, { "caption": "", "original": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/2c6a6ea4-8013-4902-8d7e-3611eb17ca49/", "medium": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/2c6a6ea4-8013-4902-8d7e-3611eb17ca49/-/preview/500x500/-/format/auto/", "small": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/2c6a6ea4-8013-4902-8d7e-3611eb17ca49/-/preview/200x200/-/format/auto/", "thumbnail": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/2c6a6ea4-8013-4902-8d7e-3611eb17ca49/-/preview/100x100/-/format/auto/", "square": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/2c6a6ea4-8013-4902-8d7e-3611eb17ca49/-/scale_crop/200x200/center/-/format/auto/", "squaresmall": "https://cdn.uc.assets.prezly.com/2c6a6ea4-8013-4902-8d7e-3611eb17ca49/-/scale_crop/58x58/center/-/format/auto/" } ], "author": { "first_name": "PR", "last_name": "OECS" }, "format_version": 6 }