December 29th 2022

NTRC/USFO LERNBOOK/MIFI INITIATIVE FOR CONNECTIVITY AND ACCESS

by NTRC

The National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC) through its Universal Service Fund Office (USFO) announces the closure of one of its major projects undertaken to bring relief to thousands of students during the COVID 19 pandemic. The project allowed for the provision of devices and data to children across St Lucia to facilitate continued learning during the suspension of regular classroom activities. The project started in 2020 for a period of one year, and was later extended to December 2022.

During the height of the pandemic, the education sector was severely impacted along with other major sectors throughout Saint Lucia. The NTRC worked alongside the Ministry of Education to provide computers for online and remote learning and made 4000 Lernbooks/Ebooks available. In keeping with the USF mandate to provide connectivity and access as its first priority, an additional 4000 MiFi units were also sourced and distributed as part of this initiative, totaling 8000 devices.

The Lernbook devices were supplied by Fortuna Pix Inc. and the MiFi devices by Digicel Ltd. Saint Lucia. This initiative led to an aggregated project investment in education costing EC$7, 699, 557.71.

The NTRC/USF notes that at present, schools have returned to a state of normalcy and consequently, this initiative will close as of December 31st 2022. NTRC/USF is pleased to have had such a positive impact on the lives of so many students and families by extension and welcomes the opportunity to make a difference whilst adhering to the mandate of providing connectivity and affordable access to the citizenry.

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