Government has named Philip Micallef as its choice to be the CEO for the new Bermuda Regulatory Authority (RA) to oversee the telecommunications sector.Mr Micallef will leave his current position as the executive chairman of the Malta Communications Authority to serve as CEO designate of the new regulator.He holds a BSc degree in electrical engineering from the University of Malta and an MBA from the University of Warwick.Mr Micallef has extensive experience in middle and senior management roles from the last 25 years with various organisations in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Telecommunication sectors across Europe, the Ministry of Environment, Planning and Infrastructure Strategy said in a statement yesterday.The RA will be set up as part of the regulatory reform in the telecoms sector, which will allow companies to offer bundled services.Between 2000 and 2002, Mr. Micallef served as a Government-appointed director on the board of Maltacom plc. In 2004 he was appointed the first CEO of Malta Enterprise. In 2006, he was appointed CEO of Melita Cable plc and then, a year later, he also led the Melita management team in the auction process which resulted in the sale of the company to the current shareholders.Environment, Planning and Infrastructure Strategy Minister Marc Bean said of the decision: “I expect that Mr Micallef will find many similarities between Malta and Bermuda. Like Bermuda, Malta is a small and diverse island, with highly developed financial and tourism sectors. Malta is a member of the European Union, which provided the model for much of our reform legislation.”It is anticipated that the RA Commissioners will appoint Mr Micallef at their initial meeting on January 2, 2013. In the interim, he will work informally with Minister Bean, the RA Commissioners and their external advisers to keep the reform process moving forward.“The identification of a new chief executive is another significant step forward in facilitating regulatory reform in Bermuda,” said Minister Bean. “Last month I announced the selection of the three Regulatory Authority Commissioners, who will begin their terms on January 2, 2013. I also announced the start of the pre-consultation process, to gather comments from industry and the public regarding licensing and market definition issues. Taken together, the measures we are taking will ensure that the RA will be able to convert the licenses of existing A, B and C carriers to Integrated Communications Operating Licences (ICOLs) by April 1, 2013.“This move will benefit Bermudian businesses and consumers by increasing competition which, in turn, will bring greater efficiency and more innovation to the sector under a modernised regulatory regime.”Mr. Micallef has worked with companies such as Management Systems Unit (MSU) in Malta, Olivetti in Italy, USA, Switzerland and Spain, Societe Internationale de Telecommunications Aeronautique (SITA) and France Telecom Equant (now Orange Business Services) in France.In 2008, Mr. Micallef was appointed Executive Chairman of Malta Communications Authority, the regulatory body responsible for the electronic communications and postal sectors, spectrum management, e-commerce, as well as e-inclusion and e-business initiatives from strategy formulation to implementation.Malta was one of the first countries to transpose the EU Telecommunications Framework into Maltese legislation in June 2011. Malta, together with Ireland, was the first EU country to ensure that mobile number portability (which enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another) is carried out by telecom operators in one day.