The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has unveiled what it described as 2020 Global ICT Regulatory Outlook, a Fifth Generation Collaborative Regulation, which will help policy-makers and regulators to leverage digital transformation for all through stronger collaboration across sectors.
The tool, ITU noted is a response to Information and communication technology (ICT) becoming more prevalent, embedded in many sectors and systems beyond the ICT sector itself.
According to Houlin Zhao, ITU Secretary-General, the tool, which will aid collaboration across sectors, has proved increasingly successful in piloting regulators and policy-makers towards broad and inclusive digital transformation.
“Indeed, digital technologies and services are transforming lives across society – from agriculture to smart water management systems. ITU stands ready to support regulators and policy-makers around the world. The ‘G5 Benchmark’ serves as a compass for regulators on their journey towards digital transformation for all, “said Houlin Zhao.
Referred to as ‘G5 Benchmark’, ITU believes that the tool will offer metrics to assess gaps, proposes smart roadmaps through shifting regulatory landscapes, tracks progress and proposes solutions where concrete progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals has proved challenging.
It added that the concept of ‘regulation generations’ helps stakeholders analyse the maturity of modern regulatory frameworks – from the command and control of first-generation (G1) regulation to a collaborative and harmonized approach in fifth-generation (G5) regulation.
The 2020 Global ICT Regulatory Outlook benchmarks regulatory across 193 countries worldwide and offers an objective perspective on the latest trends driving ICT policy and regulation. It also highlights six golden rules that accelerate the take-up of mobile broadband and seven rules that boost fixed broadband adoption.
”The Global ICT Regulatory Outlook 2020 is as a rich, powerful and practical tool to all of us seeking to build a world of meaningful connectivity through regulation that is open, cross-sector, and above all, collaborative,” said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau.
He said the tool lays out clearly the trends, the challenges and the opportunities before the regulatory community in 2020 and continues to set out the decades-long ICT regulation story as our industry develops and responds to major world crises like the 2008 financial crash and COVID-19.