The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Campaigning for The Bahamas to obtain on the International Telecommunications Council (ITU) is among the sector regulator's priority projects for 2018.

The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA), in its recently-released 2017 annual report, said membership of the global body would raise The Bahamas' credibility and visibility within the sector, and create "numerous development opportunities".

Pointing out that the Caribbean had not been represented on the ITU Council since 2007-2011, URCA said membership would also help The Bahamas and wider region address communications regulatory challenges.

"The Bahamas obtaining a seat on the ITU Council would significantly enhance the country's international profile in relation to ICTs (information and communications technologies) and would present numerous further opportunities for development of ICTs in the Bahamas," URCA said.

"Further, the English-speaking Caribbean has not been represented on ITU Council since the 2007-2011 period. The years since have seen significant challenges in ensuring that matters of importance to the Bahamas and the region are given due prominence at the ITU, which can be addressed by the Bahamas as a member of Council."

URCA's annual report revealed that the campaign for an ITU seat, and election to the body's Council, was first approved under the former Christie administration. It has seemingly been given the go-ahead to proceed under its successor.

"As the Government's delegated representative to the ITU, URCA has assumed the administrative and financial responsibility for the candidacy," the regulator added. "In particular, the activities of the Bahamas at the ITU, as led by URCA, have already increased the profile of the Bahamas in the ICT world and have attracted the interest of several multinational ICT companies, and the support of several regional and international member states of the ITU.

"During 2018, URCA will continue its work in this respect geared toward a successful election at the ITU's Plenipotentiary Conference, which will be held in October 2018. If elected, the Bahamas will serve a four-year term on the ITU Council."

Other URCA priority projects for 2018 include "a comprehensive update" on the progress of Aliv's nationwide mobile network roll-out, which is supposed to be completed by end-June in accordance with its licence obligation.

The regulator also plans to determine its position on 'net neutrality' and so-called 'Over-the-Top' (OTT) services, following industry consultation, as it moves to address an issue that has already caused controversy in the US.

"Net Neutrality is the principle that all electronic communications passing through a network should be treated equally regardless of content, application, service, user device, sender address or receiver address," URCA said.

"OTT services are short message, video, audio, and other media services that are delivered over the Internet without the service provider being involved in the control or distribution of the content. Some of the more popular examples of these products include Skype, WhatsApp, Netflix, Facebook, Lime, and Viber."

Also on URCA's radar are a final decision and review of Bahamas Power & Light's (BPL) consumer protection plan, plus the latter's utility-scale renewable energy plan. Full submission of the latter has not been made by BPL, even though its response was due on November 23, 2017.

"URCA considers this output to be critical to achieve the objectives of the NEP (National Energy Plan), and to promote and establish renewable energy as an active component of the public electricity supply system," the regulator said.

"URCA intends to push for the completion and publication of BPL's final REP (renewable energy plan) during 2018, and for BPL to begin implementing utility-scale projects immediately upon publishing the REP."