The Regulatory Authority’s (RA) first chief executive officer Philip Micallef is to leave his post earlier than expected.

An RA spokesman said: “Philip Micallef, a key player in Bermuda’s comprehensive and successful deregulation of the telecommunications industry during the past two years, is to return to Europe earlier than expected, at the end of September, for personal reasons.”

RA chairman Kent Stewart said yesterday: “We will start the process of looking for a suitable replacement immediately, and hope to have someone in place before he leaves.”

Mr Stewart added: “We regret enormously that Philip has made this decision — he has worked tirelessly over the last two years to set us off on the right foot.

“In doing so, he has won the admiration of the public certainly, who as consumers have been the principal beneficiaries of his work, and both the Government and the industry, which I think saw him as a hard-working, knowledgeable and fair arbiter in the highly complex communications arena.

“Philip leaves with our great gratitude for all he has accomplished, and we wish him well in the future.”

Mr Micallef, who is a Maltese citizen, leaves as Bermuda wins the World Commerce Review’s Best Digital Jurisdiction Award for 2014, for the second consecutive year. Bermuda’s regulatory and policy environment was cited by the UK magazine.

In a statement it said: “In naming Bermuda the Best Digital Jurisdiction, the selection took into account the regulatory and policy environment, infrastructure, product innovation, ongoing customer support and best practice criteria as well as a continuing commitment to deploying the best possible solutions for the benefit of their clients.”

Among the issues that faced Bermuda’s telecommunications industry was ‘porting’ or telephone and cellphone number portability,

Mr Micallef said: “Bermuda now has both mobile portability and fixed line portability. Things have gone relatively well and portings in total have reached 600 in numbers. This means that 600 customers have changed carrier and kept their ‘old’ numbers.

“Number portability came about in March 2014 in Bermuda after one full year of hard work by the RA and the carriers themselves who had to modify some of their internal systems.

“There were practically no issues except minor ones which are common in all jurisdictions:

— Initial incoming international SMSes not getting to destination, but this was solved in a matter of hours by the capable staff of the carriers,

— Issues relating on whether a customer had paid his bill to the ‘old’ carrier before porting and all these were treated on an individual basis.”

Another hot button issue is the unlocking of cellphones. Mr Micallef said: “Cellphone unlocking is also fully functional and the carrier providing locked cellphones is unlocking them as per the determination issued by the Regulatory Authority. We have had no complaints on this subject.”

Contracts between customers and telecommunication companies are being examined and addressed, he said.

“On the [public] contract consultation we got 43 responses, which the RA is delighted about. This means that the public have really got interested in this. The RA is going through the responses and will post them on the RA website by the end of next week.

“As stated in the consultation on page 17, a decision will be taken by the RA on what customer contracts should contain and not contain by August 1.”

The impetus for a Regulatory Authority began under the former Progressive Labour Party Government, and Mr Micallef’s appointment was announced in October 2012. This was about two months before the December 2012 election, which saw the One Bermuda Alliance step into power.

In January 2013 Dr Grant Gibbons, the OBA’s Minister of Economic Development, in announcing launch of the RA, was reported in The Royal Gazette saying: “Opening Bermuda’s telecommunications sector to greater competition under a modern regulatory framework is of vital importance to consumers, businesses and the growth of our economy.” He added that the Regulatory Authority Act was designed to allow for an independent regulator to regulate multiple sectors of the telecommunications industry.

Mr Micallef had 25 years experience in middle and senior management roles with various organisations in the ICT and telecommunication sectors across Europe and in Malta before taking up the RA post. Those nations included Malta, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and France. His last role was as executive chairman of Malta Communications Authority, which had held from May 2008.