A Single Regulatory Authority Being Considered In Public Sector Transformation

Prime Minister Bruce Golding said that a single regulator for prescribed services, of which telecommunications and utilities are a part, is being considered by the Public Sector Transformation Unit and also the reviewers of the Telecommunications Act.

Mr. Golding was speaking at the official opening of the downtown offices of the Spectrum Management Authority (SMA) recently. The SMA moved downtown in December 2009 to benefit from rental savings of approximately $2 million per month.

Mr. Golding said, “It may not be economical and efficient for us to have separate regulatory authorities dealing with different prescribed services. What we ought to do is to bring them all together, have one regulatory authority with the resources and the expertise and the personnel and the skills…That is the direction in which the discussion and the thinking have been going recently. ..It is an important part of the Public Sector Transformation Programme.”

The Prime Minister noted that the telecommunications sector is one that has to be given urgent attention because of what it means for investment in the country’s bandwidth resource.