Printed in the Business Monday newspaper on March 14th, 2011

Traditionally throughout the world utility services were provided by a single entity. Over time, however, these incumbent monopoly providers were exposed to market forces as governments permitted new players to enter the market during an era of globalisation and liberalisation of traditionally protected markets.

Printed in the Business Monday newspaper on February 28th, 2011

 This year marks the 10th anniversary of the existence of the Fair Trading Commission. As such this article will discuss some of the developments, at least as far as telecommunications is concerned, that occurred during this period.

Printed in the Business Monday newspaper on August 23rd, 2010 

The Fair Trading Commission receives and responds to many customer queries and complaints on a daily basis with respect to utility bills for electricity and landline telephone services. These services are provided by the two regulated service providers, the Barbados Light & Power Company Limited (BL&P) and Cable & Wireless (Barbados) Limited (C&W) respectively.

Printed in the Business Monday newspaper on September 20th, 2010

Utility companies provide services that are necessary and important to the general public. The supply of electricity, telecommunications and water fall into this category.

So why are these industries often regulated and treated different from other industries such as manufacturing or food processing? Why do regulatory organisations such as the Fair Trading Commission exist? There are several reasons for this - the main one being the importance of the service both to the consumer and to the economic welfare of the county as a whole.