The regulatory governance of the telecommunication and electricity industries in small, island nations

In recent years a number of regulatory agencies have been established in small, island countries to regulate the utilities industry. These countries have limited resources available to them because of their small size, isolation and in some cases the developing nature of their economies. In terms of their structure and the governance of these agencies the issues of the coverage of regulators, the regulatory independence, and staffing and resourcing of the agencies are all important in determining their relative success or failure. In the case of the telecommunications industry – as opposed to the energy sector – these regulators have been most successful as in many cases relatively small markets now operate with a number of competing companies.