Single licences
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The passage of telecommunications regulations on Friday in the House of Assembly is a watershed in the history of this industry and presages a period of consolidation and, it is to be hoped, competition.
This legislation is indeed long overdue. As Shadow Finance Minister ET Bob Richards noted, the industry long outran the system of individual licences for different services, as the current wave of litigation shows. Having said that, it is critical that the new single licence system gets it right and that the right balance between regulation and open competition is struck.
The companies in the sector were right to protest the original regulatory framework which was overly bureaucratic and massively expensive. The current framework looks more sensible, but all bureaucracies have a tendency to grow over time, and caution is required to ensure that this is not the case now.
That is particularly important because the major aim of reform is to deliver faster transmission speeds at a lower cost to the consumer. There’s no doubt that Bermuda is lagging behind other jurisdictions on both counts. This is not only an added expense and inconvenience to the average consumer, but it is also hurting Bermuda’s economic competitiveness, especially for international business and financial services.
But this goal would not be met if a free for all with lower prices all round ensued, ending with one monopoly provider who could then charge whatever prices it wished. So there must be some protection against predatory pricing. This concern is not overblown, even if this sector has the potential for disruptive technologies that prevent monopolies. Indeed, the greatest threat to existing businesses is their failure to adapt to new technologies, but that is a risk of the market and should not be a concern of the regulator.
So this change is a welcome one. However, if consumers do not benefit, then the regulatory authority must be held to account.
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Published Dec 12, 2011 at 9:26 am (Updated Dec 12, 2011 at 9:23 am)