 The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority, ECTEL, on 28 October 2021 held its 42nd meeting of the Council of Ministers. The incoming Chairman is St Lucia's Senior Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, POTS, Transport, Physical Development and Urban Renewal, Honourable Stevenson King. Minister King on Thursday 4 November provided an overview of the major outcomes of the 42nd meeting of the Council of Ministers. They include the deliberation and approval of the budget to fund the work of ECTEL and the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission's NTRC's in all five member states. ECTEL has recommended the new EC bill to member states and to date, the Federation of St Kitts and Nevis has passed the EC Act, though it is not yet enforced. In the other member states, the EC bill is under active consideration at the level of Cabinet of Ministers. In St Lucia, the Department of Telecommunications in the Ministry of Infrastructure, POTS, Transport, Physical Development and Urban Renewal is in communication with the Attorney-General's chambers to prepare the EC bill for a formal presentation to be made to the Cabinet of Ministers for Honourable Transmission to the Parliament of St Lucia. Once the Cabinet of Ministers has given its approval, it is expected that the EC bill will be prepared for presentation. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the world into a state of increased reliance on data, mobile devices and computers to facilitate remote work and online learning, among other tasks. The pandemic also exposed the inequity and accessibility to broadband services by consumers in the ECTEL member states. Something that ECTEL has taken note of and will be working to address. As schools moved to online classes learning, it became clear that there was a substantial digital divide among students across the ECTEL member states. For some students, broadband was not available where they lived or broadband was not affordable or the quality of service was not acceptable. In response, a number of Universal Service Fund projects have been implemented to provide broadband access to students affected by the pandemic. These include build-out of a fiber network to serve customers with no access to fixed broadband service on the east coast in the Commonwealth of Dominica, providing devices and subsidized access to mobile broadband to 1,800 students, and fixed broadband to 700 households with students in synchids and nevus. 3. Providing access rather providing 4,000 electronic devices and 4,000 MiFIs to students in St. Lucia. And finally, connecting more than 340 households rather with broadband and providing 1,000 students with a tablet and internet access in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The chairman noted that the revelations have made ECTEL's role as a regional regulatory body for electronic communications even more significant as the 21-year-old Telecommunications Act and regulations are no longer fit for purpose in this new paradigm. He also highlighted the entity's achievements thus far. Over the past 21 years, sector regulation has delivered several wins to consumers, including increased fixed and mobile broadband penetration, significant reductions in calling rates, increased fixed broadband speeds, introduction of new technologies such as 4G, and more recently increased customer choice with the introduction of mobile number portability in 2019. The electronic communications sector has also contributed significantly to economic growth in the five ECTEL member states. In the past five years, service providers have invested an average of $136 million annually across the ECTEL member states while providing full employment for more than 780 people. The chairmanship is rotated annually, offering each member state the opportunity to serve as ECTEL's head of the Council of Ministers. ECTEL is made up of three components, a Council of Ministers, a Regional Directorate, and a National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission in each of its five member states, namely the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Neves, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.