ECS 11/2020 Statement of Results and Final Decision: FRAMEWORK FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF INTERNET EXCHANGE POINTS (“IXPs”) IN THE BAHAMAS
This Statement of Results and Final Decision concludes the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority’s (“URCA”) public consultation on a regulatory framework for the buildout of Internet Exchange Points in The Bahamas.
Commonly called an IXP or an IX, an Internet Exchange Point represents a neutral technical facility through which Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”), Governments, educational institutions, Content Delivery Networks (“CDNs”) and aggregators, businesses, and other organizations of the Internet community exchange traffic with one another. In essence, IXPs function as centralized clearinghouses for organizations involved in the Internet to peer and exchange data traffic. IXPs are also an important infrastructure for delivering local digital content.
The Communications Act, 2009 (referred to herein as “the Comms Act” or “the Act”) endows URCA with the power to issue regulatory and other measures in fulfillment of the electronic communications sector policy (“ECS Policy”) objectives. Acting in accordance with the draft ECS Policy,1 on 2 May 2019, URCA released for comments document number ECS 07/2019 “Framework for the Establishment of Internet Exchange Points in The Bahamas”. 2 The Consultation Document had the following core objectives:3
to promote public awareness of the contributions IXPs can make to the development of the Internet and digital economy in The Bahamas;
to alert potential IXP participants of URCA’s regulatory framework for the entry of IXPs in the Bahamian market; and
to ensure the regulatory framework is favorable for IXPs to operate successfully in The Bahamas.
Five (5) companies submitted written responses on the consultation, namely:
Bahamas Telecommunications Company Limited (“BTC”);
Cable Bahamas Limited (“CBL”);
Last Mile Communications (“LMC”);4
Secure Hosting Solutions (“SHS”);5 and
Cloud Carib.6
