Legislators approved sweeping reforms to the telecommunications industry last night with the passage of the Regulatory Authority Act and Electronic Communications Act, 2011.The proposals create an independent regulatory authority and ends the policy of segmented licensing in favour of a unified license allowing sector players to offer any telecommunications service.The Opposition, One Bermuda Alliance expressed concerns that the regulatory measures were overkill and could well be too costly for industry, but otherwise the proposals met with little resistance from their side of the House.A total of 21 companies all existing providers under the current regime will be eligible for the unified license. And smaller players are protected from more dominant ones.“In addition to the creation of an independent authority and changes to the licensing structure, the new telecommunications regulatory regime will include several other components, including Competition Regulation, Access and Interconnection Regulation; Price Regulation; Consumer Protection; Universal Service Obligations; Frequency Spectrum Management; Numbering; and Equipment Type Approval,” Infrastructure Minister Marc Bean said in introducing the legislation.“Each of these items has their own unique characteristics, with several being interrelated.”The Minister said that there would be a transition period “to ensure the orderly evolution of the sector and to enable any licensee to successfully enter any market and compete with the existing service providers, given that all dominance requirements have been met.“While it is the intent of this reform to ensure only a light touch of regulatory intervention, during this transition period there may need to be a greater degree of intervention in order to resolve inter-carrier disputes and to facilitate the establishment of a regime that is fair to all participants.”He added that until “effective competition” is established in the sector, the regulator will manage the industry to prevent dominant players from engaging in “predatory pricing or other anti-competitive practices designed to eliminate equally or more efficient competitor before they have had a chance to get established in the market.”The Regulatory Authority will be governed by a Board consisting of three Commissioners and the Chief Executive.Minister Bean stressed the necessity for reform as he set the stage for the debate.“Reform is necessary given the convergence of technologies in recent years,” he said.“If we fail to reform the regulation of telecommunications in Bermuda, we will fail to meet the expectations of consumers, both commercial and residential.”Parliamentarians were unanimous in adopting the proposals.