Castries – Saint Lucia – 8th March 2023 – In the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority’s (ECTEL) drive to modernise Radio Frequency (‘RF’) spectrum monitoring and management systems in the contracting states the Directorate purchased ten (10) fixed Remote Spectrum Monitor (‘RSM’) stations from the Anritsu Company of the U.S.A. The National Telecommunications Regulatory Commissions (‘NTRCs’) were assigned two (2) RSM stations each.

The purpose of the RSM stations is to facilitate effective remote spectrum monitoring and management by the NTRCs of their respective national RF spectrum and especially to assist in the resolution of harmful interference complaints.

On Monday, 27th February 2023 ECTEL in collaboration with Anritsu Company, held a virtual half-day training session.  The training session was intended to train the NTRCs’ engineers to use the RSM stations to conduct remote spectrum measurementsas well as a refresher on the use of Anritsu hand-held spectrum analysers. Further, the online training session was a precursor to the integration of the Anritsu probes with the Spectrum Management Software. The training was led by Anritsu’s Engineer, Jeffrey Boetcher and was very engaging, providing practical real world examples of spectrum monitoring practices for field engineers.

ECTEL has been the regional regulatory body advising the NTRCs on electronic communications matters in its five (5) Member States namely; the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines since 4th May 2000. Essentially, ECTEL works with the NTRCs to promote consumer rights and harmonisedbenefits in the electronic communications sector in its Member States.