Bermuda’s telecommunications regulator has ramped up efforts to rein in prices charged for internet and mobile phone services.

The latest order came in its annual market determination, the result of required annual benchmark exercises to review the retail fixed broadband and mobile services market in Bermuda.

Among the decisions is a requirement that One Communications double a proposed rate reduction to nearly 15 per cent per year, for three years.

Previously, after a September 2025 market review, the RA designated OneComm alone as holding “significant market power” in retail fixed broadband and ordered the company to reduce its fixed broadband weighted average retail price (Warp) by 7 per cent annually through 2028.

But the order was part of the broad-based reasons that OneComm, and separately Digicel, mounted court challenges. OneComm secured an interim stay suspending compliance with the broadband Warp price reduction targets, and the courts have yet to rule on the full merits of the case.

But now, in a new order, the RA has determined that since OneComm did not reduce their Warp by 7 per cent as instructed, they have fallen behind what other countries are charging.

In order to bring their pricing lower, and in line with those other countries, the RA said OneComm must reduce their rates, not by 7 per cent, but by 14.85 per cent for each of the three years to 2028.

The RA designated both Digicel and OneComm as having “significant market power” in the mobile phone sector.

Last year, the regulator required both providers to introduce an entry-level mobile plan offering at least 10 gigabytes of data for a maximum of $50 per month.

This was the matter challenged in the courts by both telecommunications providers. Digicel obtained an interim stay regarding the mobile entry-level anchor product obligation.

According to the RA’s 2026 benchmark study, conducted across 15 high-income, small-island jurisdictions, Bermuda’s fixed broadband prices have pulled further away from international peers.

The median monthly fixed broadband price in Bermuda rose from $170 to $175, widening the gap from 57 per cent above international benchmark averages in 2025 to 62 per cent above benchmark levels in 2026.

Furthermore, OneComm’s fixed broadband Warp actually increased by approximately 1.3 per cent between early 2025 and mid-2026.

In response to these widening price gaps and the compressed three-year window remaining in the regulatory period ending in 2028, the RA issued the new administrative determination on August 26, increasing regulatory pressure on OneComm.

In terms of mobile phones, Bermuda’s median price per gigabyte is 10 per cent above benchmark averages, prompting the RA to forgo general retail mobile price caps for a second consecutive year.

But the RA was concerned that entry-level options for full-service packages remained excessively steep. While OneComm launched a $50 plan offering 10 GB of data, it was restricted to data-only access, forcing consumers needing talk and text onto its $125/month 30 GB plan.

That is 107 per cent above the benchmark trend line that is representative of the 15-country comparison base.

Digicel did not comply with the 2025 order, leaving its lowest-priced package with talk and text at 30 GB for $120/month, 98 per cent above the trend line.

But the RA is now saying that their order last year omitted a requirement for the companies to include voice and text — an “administrative oversight”.

The latest order is formally modifying the mobile anchor specification.

For the entry-level anchor product, Digicel and OneComm must now deliver at least 10 GB of monthly data, plus unlimited local talk and text for no more than $50 per month.

Not all benchmark metrics required new mandates.

The RA maintained OneComm's entry-level fixed broadband anchor requirement at 100 megabits per second download, and 20 Mbps upload, for $80 per month without change, finding its pricing broadly consistent with equivalent 100 Mbps products in comparator countries.

• For more on the August 2026 Annual Retail Benchmarking Exercise Report and Administrative Determination, see Related Media

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