This session discussed the complex regulatory and business landscape which is shaping our digital future:

• What are the main regulatory challenges and opportunities of this decade impacting the way industry operates in relation to:
  • Spectrum
  • Cross-border data
  • New regulatory instruments such as sandboxes
• Applying the lens of sustainability, what economic incentives and frameworks can be set by governments, policymakers and regulators to accelerate the sustainable transition of the ICT sector?
• Do we need cross-border industry collaboration on regulation to ensure consistency, predictability and fluidity of digital markets and catalyze the deployment of region-wide and global digital infrastructure?

Format: The meeting heared from a panel of thought leaders who shared experiences, best practices and concrete proposals followed by discussions which were compiled in the Industry Outcome Statement. Industry Outcome Statement: IAGDI-CRO addressed critical questions and proposed ways forward, from the industry’s perspective, on concrete business and regulatory issues and digital strategies that foster digital transformation and an enabling ecosystem for inclusive, relevant, and sustainable connectivity in a digital economy. IAGDI-CRO participants agreed on an Outcome Statement which was shared by the IAGDI-CRO Chair at GSR’s closure ceremony.

The Regional Regulatory Associations Meeting provides a unique platform for Regulatory Associations (RA) to share experiences and knowledge, to discuss how they can collaborate, and to identify means to bring affordable, safe, secure, and trusted connectivity and online access and use to people in their respective regions. Agenda

1. Opening remarks
2. Presentation on ITU Initiative “Digital Regulation Network (DRN) – A collaborative network of networks”
3. Discussion and way forward
4. Closing

  Regulatory Associations Website 

The Heads of Regulators Executive Roundtable (upon invitation only) provides a platform for frank exchanges on impactful regulatory approaches between Heads and senior management of regulators.  Discussions focused on novel, bold, and ground-breaking regulatory and economic incentives for a sustainable digital future which promotes the deployment of ICT infrastructure and equal affordable access to digital technologies, while ensuring the financial resources needed to deliver public services.

• ITU webcast : https://play.itu.int/event/gsr-23-leadership-segment-itugsr/
• YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8-m3_dt6MA

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This high-level session started with a Ministerial exchange followed by a panel discussion that examined policy and regulatory innovation with a focus on new governance structures, policy and regulatory frameworks and financing mechanisms to foster the digital transformation process, investment in connectivity and access, and the adoption of digital services for an inclusive digital society.

• Ministerial Panel
• Interactive Panel with regulators and industry players

The discussion focused on:

• Drivers of digital transformation for access, adoption and value creation – persons/users, data and technologies
• Where to next – Connecting the Unconnected: Revisiting Universal Service Financing for universal and meaningful connectivity
• Are policies up to the digital investment challenge from an environmental, social and governance perspective? How can government, technology companies and operators achieve a new level of collaboration in terms of environmental sustainability of digital and ESG?
• Are today’s regulators and regulatory frameworks fit for purpose to lead digital transformation for the future? Introducing regulatory flexibility with regulatory sandboxes, what are the challenges and opportunities?
• How to include and empower end-users in digital regulation?

This session discussed how to ensure resilience of infrastructure while preparing better for online threats, strengthen online security and safety, and build confidence as digitalization of all sectors and services is accelerating across economies.

• What approach should be considered in developing and implementing cybersecurity strategies, from the multistakeholder perspective?
• What can regulators do with the industry to help consumers be safer online and prepare to mitigate risks? What works what doesn’t work, lessons learned
• Multistakeholder engagement: Is a co-creating approach the answer for greater security, resilience and online safety?
• What role for industry players, regulators and consumers in ensuring resilience and building confidence in the use of new technologies, digital applications and services?
• How to improve cybersecurity skills to better prepare for incident response?

This session explored the impact of fast evolving technologies, high speed low latency network requirements, changing consumer behaviors and new market realities on spectrum needs and spectrum management options.

• Managing spectrum for social and economic imperatives: from universal affordable connectivity to tomorrow’s data intensive fully digital 5G/6G world
• Evolving wireless technologies (terrestrial, satellite and HAPS/HIBS) and traditional services: how to balance spectrum needs, innovation and competitiveness?
• Spectrum management options: To share or not to share? Licensed or unlicensed spectrum?
• Spectrum efficient use across industries and services: the role of the regulator(s) and cooperation across sectors, local controlled versus public networks
• A spotlight on space Sustainability

This session discussed concrete examples of policy, regulatory and technical approaches stakeholders can take to ensure child and youth online safety.

• What areas and challenges could be best tackled by regulation?
• What are the other solutions and alternatives to bridge the gaps, mitigate risks and avoid harm?
• Co-creating national strategies with children and youth
• Who is responsible and who are the stakeholders?

This session examined digital accessibility policies and regulatory measures that jointly with appropriate strategies and technical approaches are required to ensure that all users, regardless of age, gender, ability to use the technology can access and use the digital information, products and services and thus ensure that everyone is part of the digital societies and environments.

• Is digital accessibility a must or nice to have?
• Which are the policies and regulatory measures to ensure to build digitally accessible and inclusive environments?
• Why is accessibility a business opportunity for all stakeholders (including government, Industry/manufacturers, providers and consumers)?
• What are the challenges and good practices in building a digitally inclusive ecosystem?

The Network of Women (NoW) in the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) encourages gender balance in the activities leading up to the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC), during the conference and in all activities of the ITU-D during the cycle. The Power session on 7 June 2023, was held to provide women delegates at the GSR, the opportunity to exchange views on developing gender mainstreamed policies through interactions between ministries and regulatory entities in the ICT sector. Discussions at the session focused on the ideal chain of meaningful participation and leadership including how these can be promoted in the ICT community.

This session discussed policy, regulatory, business and financing measures to foster inclusive access to smart devices taking into consideration approaches to devices financing, taxes and import duties reduction, improvement of distribution channels while considering recycling of devices, quality standards for pre-owned devices, and partnerships creation across the value chain (five-point action plan identified by the Broadband Commission’s Working Group on smartphone access,  Strategies Towards Universal Smartphone Access).

• How to make devices affordable?
• What are the financing options available?
• What role for the regulator in enabling smart device adoption?
• What regulatory measures to adopt to ensure quality recycling of pre-owned devices?
• How to raise consumer confidence in using smartphones, tablets, and other devices?

In light of the growing opportunities of digital networks and services, and the UN’s new target of ensuring that over the next 5 years every person in the world will be covered by an early warning system, this session examined the case for regulation. An increasing number of countries are using regulation to ensure that public warnings are delivered over digital networks, including mobile networks, to deliver alerting messages to those at risk, and to mitigate the impacts, and save lives.

• Which opportunities does regulation bring to public warning systems? What is the ICT regulator’s role?
• What are the different technologies and protocols involved to implement public warning systems that are digitally accessible to save everyone’s life?
• Which examples are there for national and regional regulation?
• Data driven emergency responses experiences

Long-lasting and impactful collaboration and partnerships for sustainable digital transformation today face many challenges, including long-term commitment, aligned objectives and incentives, financial resources, local adoption and scaling beyond piloting phases, and more. In the future, tools used for collaboration and partnerships in Sustainable Digital Transformation will become more intelligent, intuitive, and user-friendly, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate tasks and provide more accurate insights. For example, AI-driven tools will be able to quickly identify areas of potential improvement and collaboration, pinpointing areas that need attention and providing targeted solutions. Virtual reality applications will be used to simulate projects and different scenarios of partnerships. DLT-based platforms can help with transparency and accountability of transactions and can track and trace resources. Additionally, these tools will enable more effective communication and collaboration between partners, providing real-time feedback on progress and allowing partners to quickly adjust to changing needs and trends. Finally, these tools will enable businesses to quickly and easily identify potential partnerships, providing a comprehensive list of potential partners and helping to create meaningful and successful collaborations.

• What will Partnerships for Digital Transformation look like in 2050?
• Will they be very much different to today’s ways of collaborating?
• Will these new forms of Partnership be able to overcome some of the key challenges that partnerships in Digital Transformation face today?

This session discussed the role of regulators in reporting data related to GHG emissions from the ICT sector and the role of regulators in the regulation of e-waste from the ICT sector, with the ultimate objective being environmental protection.

• What role should regulators play in addressing the negative environmental externalities of the ICT sector?
• What efforts have countries made so far in monitoring GHG emissions and regulating e-waste from the ICT sector?
• How could regulators help mitigate the environmental impact of digital?
• How could regulators help improve digital environmental sustainability by working with other institutions from government and industry?

This session explored the challenges and opportunities of the Metaverse environment relying on connectivity, digital devices, platforms and immersive reality technologies, defining what an immersive virtual reality is, examining the technical, commercial, social and regulatory implications of this virtual digital environment.

• What is the Metaverse?
• What are the opportunities and potential bottlenecks (such as access, interoperability, digital accessibility, safety and security, child online protection, etc.) for governments, businesses and consumers/users in this immersive virtual and augmented reality world?
• What are the policy issues raised by the Metaverse? And what regulatory approaches are needed?
• What is the role of the regulator (ICT) and stakeholders in ensuring inclusive, safe, secure and trusted immersive experiences in virtual reality?