The Government of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas issued a public consultation on 17 June 2009 on the proposed new Retail Pricing Regulation for the communications sector (”the consultation”). The Retail Pricing Regulation Consultation set out the possible options for retail price regulation in the electronic communications sector. Emphasis was placed on proposing retail price regulation that would be suitable for use in a modern, competitive electronic communications market.

Based on a request for an extension for the submission of responses, the consultation closed on 3 August 2009.

The Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority (URCA) Act came into force on 1 August 2009 and the Communications Act, 2009 (“Comms Act”) came into force on 1 September 2009.

URCA today issued a summary of responses to the consultation. The full text of the submissions can be found at www.urcabahamas.bs