MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands will establish a dedicated Telecommunications Regulator

One of the major priorities for the new Regulator will be to develop a more proactive relationship with Sure.

The Falkland Islands government has announced that with the introduction of the new Telecommunications Ordinance, recent focus has been on setting up structures to regulate the Sure exclusive license.

 The Ordinance enables the recruitment of an independent, specialist Regulator, a post which is currently under recruitment. In the interim, the Attorney General is acting as the Regulator with support from other FIG staff and external experts as required.

One of the major priorities for the new Regulator will be to develop a more proactive relationship with Sure. The duties of the Regulator also include confirming that Sure comply with the terms of their exclusive license, such as:

Meeting the Key Performance Indicators specified in the license, such as the timetable for increases in broadband capacity and speed. Full details will be found on the Telecommunications Regulations page once the license is signed by both Sure and FIG.

Customer satisfaction will be closely monitored. As such a customer satisfaction survey will soon be carried out to establish a baseline against which performance can be measured.

Ensuring that obligations contained in the new price cap regime are met; as set out in the license.

Individual licenses under the new ordinance

Any telecommunications equipment not provided through Sure, and therefore outside of the exclusive license, will require an individual license. This includes satellite phones, VSAT equipment and 2 meter radio equipment.

It is expected that the secondary legislation covering such license fees will be confirmed within the next month. Once these fees are approved, they will be available from the Regulator website. Existing fees are not expected to change. A registration period for new licenses under the Communications Bill 2017 will be open for 3 months, starting the end of April through to the end of July 2017. During this period, any license renewals will be under the new ordinance, however existing mechanisms for 2-metre and broadcasting license applications will remain unchanged during that period.

Details of which equipment will require a license will be available on the Regulator’s website from the end of April 2017. Once license application forms are approved, these will also be available for download from the Regulator website with hard copies available in public locations.

At the end of the registration period, applications under the new ordinance will be processed and appropriate invoicing sent to applicants. Failure to register to license any equipment which requires licencing under the Communications Bill 2017 will, from that time, be considered a contravention of the Ordinance and will be addressed according to the Communications (Enforcement Orders) (Compensation and Penalties) Regulations 2017, already approved by ExCo.

For further information please contact: info.telecoms@sec.gov.fk
The telecommunications regulatory website will be updated with new regulations and information as it becomes available. It can be found on http://www.fig.gov.fk/regulatory/ under Communications.