WSIS Action Line C6: Digital Ecosystem Builders in action: Redefining the role of ICT regulators

Summary

This discussion focused on the evolving role of telecommunications regulators as digital ecosystem builders, part of the ITU’s Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR) 2025 consultation process. The session explored how regulatory authorities must transition from traditional oversight roles to become proactive architects and facilitators of digital innovation across diverse global markets.

The consultation process, which has been running since 2003, aims to develop best practice guidelines that serve as a regulatory blueprint for digital development. This year’s unique focus examines what capacities regulators need to become effective ecosystem builders, addressing four key areas: fostering regulatory innovation, building regulatory capacity, integrating new technologies into operations, and strengthening cross-border cooperation. Representatives from various regional regulatory associations shared their experiences and strategies for this transformation.

Ekaterine Imedadze from EBUREC highlighted how smaller markets benefit from collaborative networks, emphasizing the importance of working groups focused on regulatory innovation, spectrum management, and regional cooperation. Xavier Merlin from FRATEL discussed three critical areas: addressing new regulatory issues like AI and cloud services, developing new regulatory tools such as data-driven regulation and sandboxes, and enhancing national cooperation between different regulatory bodies.

Omar Al Rejraje from Saudi Arabia’s CST emphasized the importance of de-risking investment barriers through regulatory sandboxes and “RegTech” solutions, where regulators use emerging technologies internally to better understand and regulate them. Petros Galides from eMERGE stressed how AI and big data enable more proactive, evidence-based regulation while highlighting the necessity of cross-sectoral collaboration to address complex digital challenges.

The discussion concluded that successful digital ecosystem building requires regulators to embrace innovation, leverage technology tools, and foster both regional and cross-sectoral partnerships to create enabling environments for sustainable digital transformation.

Keypoints

## Major Discussion Points:

– **Regulatory Evolution from Supervisors to Ecosystem Builders**: The central theme focused on how regulators must transition from traditional oversight roles to becoming proactive architects and facilitators of digital innovation, moving from managing sectors to managing entire digital ecosystems.

– **Innovation Culture and New Regulatory Tools**: Discussion emphasized the need for regulators to develop innovation cultures and adopt new regulatory approaches, including data-driven regulation, regulatory sandboxes, and RegTech solutions to keep pace with rapidly evolving digital markets.

– **Cross-Border and Cross-Sectoral Collaboration**: Significant attention was given to strengthening international cooperation through regional regulatory associations, sharing best practices, and breaking down silos between different regulatory authorities to address complex digital challenges collectively.

– **Emerging Technology Integration and Capacity Building**: The conversation highlighted how regulators must both understand and utilize emerging technologies like AI, blockchain, and big data in their own operations while building institutional capacity and digital skills to regulate these technologies effectively.

– **Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Development**: Discussion covered the importance of ensuring that regulatory frameworks support sustainable digital transformation while maintaining focus on universal connectivity and meaningful access for all populations.

## Overall Purpose:

The discussion was part of the ITU’s Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR) 2025 consultation process, specifically focused on developing best practice guidelines for how regulators can become “digital ecosystem builders.” The session aimed to gather insights from regional regulatory associations and authorities to inform the GSR best practice guidelines and contribute to the broader WSIS+20 review process.

## Overall Tone:

The discussion maintained a consistently collaborative and forward-looking tone throughout. Participants demonstrated mutual respect and shared commitment to regulatory modernization. The atmosphere was professional yet engaging, with speakers building upon each other’s insights rather than presenting conflicting viewpoints. The tone remained optimistic about the potential for regulatory transformation while acknowledging the significant challenges ahead. There was a sense of urgency about the need for change, but this was balanced with practical, experience-based approaches to implementation.

Speakers

**Speakers from the provided list:**

– **Ahmed El-Raghy** – Working from the Regulatory and Market Environment team in the ITU, session moderator

– **Sofie Maddens** – Chief of Digital Knowledge Society Department in BDT, delivered opening remarks on behalf of the BDT Director

– **Youlia Lozanova** – ITU colleague, provided foundation background on the GSR consultation process and best practice guidelines

– **Ekaterine Imedadze** – Commissioner of Georgian National Communication Commission and outgoing chairperson for the EBUREC (Eastern Europe Regulatory Association)

– **Xavier Merlin** – Board member of ARCEP and representative of FRATEL (French-speaking regulators network)

– **Omar Al Rejraje** – Deputy Governor of the Space Communication Commission of Saudi Arabia, representing ARGNET for the Arab region

– **Petros Galides** – Deputy Commissioner at the Cyprus Regulatory Authority of Electronic Communication and Postal Service, chairing eMERGE (Euro-Mediterranean area)

– **UNKNOWN** – No additional information provided in transcript

**Additional speakers:**

– **Louis Sakala** – Director General of ARCEP Congo (mentioned as expected participant but unclear if he actually joined the session)

# Comprehensive Report: Regulators as Digital Ecosystem Builders – ITU GSR 2025 Consultation Session

## Executive Summary

This discussion, moderated by Ahmed El-Raghy from the ITU’s Regulatory and Market Environment team, formed part of the International Telecommunication Union’s Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR) 2025 consultation process. The session brought together representatives from major regional regulatory associations to explore how telecommunications regulators can evolve from traditional oversight bodies into proactive digital ecosystem builders.

The consultation aims to develop best practice guidelines that serve as regulatory blueprints for digital development globally. This year’s focus examines the capacities regulators need to become effective ecosystem builders, addressing four critical areas: fostering regulatory innovation, building regulatory capacity, integrating new technologies into operations, and strengthening cross-border cooperation.

The discussion revealed strong consensus amongst participants on the need for fundamental regulatory transformation, with practical insights shared on implementation approaches across different regional contexts.

## Opening Context and Framework

Sofie Maddens, Chief of Digital Knowledge Society Department in BDT, delivered opening remarks establishing the conceptual foundation for the discussion. She emphasised that regulators must transition from being traditional supervisors into proactive architects and facilitators of innovation, cultivating agile digital ecosystems where investment is secure, competition is fair, and development brings sustainable digital transformation for all.

Maddens highlighted that the digital world has become the main platform for modern life, commerce, and growth, requiring regulators to move from managing vertical sectors to managing entire ecosystems. She noted that regulators now deal with challenges ranging from “online safety to AI governance, from digital content to intelligent platforms, from 5G networks to Leo satellites, as well as IoT and futuristic agile spectrum.”

She positioned regional regulatory associations as engines of harmonisation and catalysts for capacity building, noting that the GSR best practice guidelines have served as a dynamic chronicle of collective wisdom for nearly 25 years. The discussion connects to the broader WSIS 20 review process and prepares for GSR 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with August 31st dedicated to a master class.

Youlia Lozanova from ITU provided essential background on the GSR consultation process. She explained that the consultation focuses on identifying the qualities and capacities necessary for regulators to become ecosystem builders, emphasising that regulators need new capacities, skills, and mindsets to navigate environmental changes and make appropriate regulatory decisions.

Lozanova outlined the four main pillars of the consultation: developing innovation culture within regulatory institutions, proactively integrating new technologies into core operations, adopting new tools for timely decision-making, and promoting results-driven international cooperation with prioritised harmonisation on important topics.

## Regional Perspectives on Regulatory Transformation

### Eastern European Regulatory Association (EBUREC)

Ekaterine Imedadze, Commissioner of Georgian National Communication Commission and outgoing chairperson for EBUREC, represented the five-member association comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova. Operating under the motto “together we are stronger,” EBUREC demonstrates how smaller regulatory networks can build collective strength.

Imedadze emphasised that regulators must evolve from merely watching and regulating markets to becoming enablers of digital development. EBUREC operates through working groups focused on regulatory innovation, independence, benchmarking, and spectrum management, with successful collaboration on emerging technologies like 5G rollouts and Starlink authorisation.

She identified cybersecurity capacity building as a particularly scarce resource requiring collaborative approaches among regulators. For smaller markets, collaborative networks provide essential mechanisms to leverage collective expertise for addressing complex challenges that individual regulators might struggle to handle independently.

### French-Speaking Regulators Network (FRATEL)

Xavier Merlin, Board member of ARCEP and representative of FRATEL, presented a distinctive perspective on regulatory cooperation. He explicitly stated that FRATEL’s purpose is “absolutely not to harmonise,” calling such an approach “nonsense,” and instead focusing on sharing questions, experiences, good practices, and bad practices whilst anticipating future challenges.

Merlin identified three critical areas for regulatory development: addressing new regulatory issues such as AI and cloud services, developing new regulatory tools including data-driven regulation and sandboxes for fast-moving environments, and enhancing national cooperation between different regulatory bodies. He argued that digital regulation requires diverse competencies that no single regulator possesses.

Notably, Merlin positioned differences in maturity between network members as valuable learning opportunities rather than obstacles, arguing that diversity enables rich exchanges between regulators facing common problems with different experiences.

### Arab Region Network (ARGNET)

Omar Al Rejraje, Deputy Governor of the Space Communication Commission of Saudi Arabia, representing ARGNET, provided insights into practical implementation of regulatory transformation. He emphasised that regulators need to evolve into ecosystem builders, experiment adapters, and innovation promoters.

Al Rejraje introduced the principle that “you cannot regulate what you don’t understand, and you cannot enable what you don’t understand.” This philosophy drives Saudi Arabia’s approach of using emerging technologies internally within regulatory bodies to better understand how to regulate them in the market. He positioned RegTech as a strategic enabler for trust and speed, aiming to make regulation as fast as innovation.

He highlighted Saudi Arabia’s ranking as number one in the G20 for the Digital Maturity Index and mentioned that the third cohort of their sandbox solution will graduate by the end of this year. The Saudi approach focuses on de-risking investment barriers through regulatory sandboxes and direct technology experimentation, with plans to launch new blockchain and other RegTech solutions by the next GSR meeting.

### Euro-Mediterranean Area (eMERGE)

Petros Galides, Deputy Commissioner at the Cyprus Regulatory Authority, representing eMERGE’s 27 members across European and Mediterranean countries, emphasised the transformative potential of technologies like AI and big data in enabling regulators to become more proactive and evidence-based.

Galides positioned regulators as co-creators of healthy and innovative digital systems, requiring them to move beyond traditional reactive approaches. He stressed that no single authority or nation can tackle complex digital challenges alone, identifying cross-sectoral and global collaboration as essential solutions.

His organisation has focused on creating comprehensive technological platforms including market observatories, licensing systems, and big data platforms to monitor and regulate whilst providing transparency. Galides emphasised that strengthening institutional capacity, digital skills, and cultural change are required for organisations to develop effective regulatory tools.

## Key Areas of Consensus

### Fundamental Role Transformation

All speakers demonstrated alignment on the need for regulators to transition from traditional oversight roles to proactive digital ecosystem builders. Maddens framed this as moving from supervisors to architects and facilitators, Al Rejraje emphasised evolution to ecosystem builders and innovation promoters, whilst Imedadze highlighted the shift from market watchers to development enablers.

### Technology Integration Imperative

Strong consensus emerged around the necessity for regulators to integrate new technologies into their own operations to effectively regulate them. Al Rejraje’s principle that “you cannot regulate what you don’t understand” resonated throughout the discussion, with speakers agreeing that internal experimentation and adoption of emerging technologies is essential for informed regulatory decision-making.

### Cross-Border Cooperation Necessity

All speakers agreed that regional cooperation is essential for effective digital regulation. Maddens positioned regional regulatory associations as engines of harmonisation and capacity building, whilst Galides argued that no single authority can tackle complex digital challenges alone. Imedadze demonstrated how small networks can become stronger through joint projects and shared learning.

### Innovation Culture Development

Speakers consistently emphasised the need for regulators to develop innovation cultures and adopt new regulatory approaches. Lozanova highlighted the importance of innovation culture for approaching regulatory challenges efficiently, whilst Al Rejraje positioned RegTech as a strategic enabler for making regulation as fast as innovation.

## Implementation Challenges and Practical Considerations

### Capacity Building and Resource Constraints

Multiple speakers identified capacity building as a critical challenge, particularly regarding emerging technologies and cybersecurity. Imedadze specifically highlighted cybersecurity capacity building as a scarce resource requiring collaborative approaches, whilst Galides emphasised the need for strengthening institutional capacity, digital skills, and cultural change.

### Cross-Sectoral Coordination

Several speakers highlighted the complexity of coordinating across different regulatory domains. Merlin noted that digital regulation requires diverse competencies that no single regulator possesses, whilst Galides identified practical barriers including protectionism, silos, and legal obstacles.

### Balancing Innovation and Risk

The discussion revealed ongoing challenges in balancing innovation promotion with appropriate risk management. Al Rejraje’s emphasis on regulatory sandboxes and experimentation reflects one approach to this challenge, whilst other speakers highlighted the need for evidence-based regulation and careful assessment of emerging technologies.

## Future Directions and Next Steps

### GSR Best Practice Guidelines Development

The discussion forms part of the ongoing GSR consultation process leading to GSR 2025 in Riyadh from September 1-3. The consultation will continue gathering input to develop best practice guidelines that translate insights into actionable guidance for regulators globally.

### Technology Sharing and Collaboration

Several speakers committed to sharing specific tools and experiences. Al Rejraje mentioned plans to share digital sustainability toolkits developed by Saudi Arabia with other regulators worldwide, whilst also planning to launch new blockchain and RegTech solutions by the next GSR meeting.

## Conclusion

The discussion revealed a global regulatory community aligned on the fundamental need for transformation from traditional oversight to digital ecosystem building. This consensus provides a strong foundation for developing coherent international best practices and enabling effective cross-border cooperation in digital governance.

The diversity of regional approaches and experiences emerges as a valuable asset for collective learning and development. The ongoing GSR consultation process provides a structured mechanism for capturing these insights and translating them into actionable guidance for regulators worldwide.

Success in this transformation will depend on regulators’ ability to embrace innovation, leverage technology tools effectively, and foster both regional and cross-sectoral partnerships to create enabling environments for sustainable and inclusive digital transformation. The discussion demonstrates strong commitment and emerging practical experience to support this critical evolution in regulatory practice.

Ahmed El-Raghy: Welcome everyone, and good afternoon, and maybe good morning, good evening for our online participants. Welcome to C6 Business Action Line Enabling Environment. I’m Ahmad Al-Rakhi, I’m working from the Regulatory and Market Environment team in the ITU, and pleasure to be with you today in this session. We are going to tackle a very crucial topic about ecosystem builder for regulation and shifting the mandate of regulatory authority for this new role. And in the beginning of our session, we wish to have an opening remarks, and I will deliver for Sufi Madness, the Chief of Digital Knowledge Society Department in BDT, on behalf of the BDT Director for his opening remarks. Please, Sufi. Thank you very much, Ahmad,

Sofie Maddens: and good morning, good afternoon, good evening to those who are following online. So I have the honor and pleasure to deliver these opening remarks on behalf of Dr. Cosmas Lakissan Zavazava, who’s the Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau. Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, esteemed representatives of our regional regulatory associations, a very warm welcome to you all. It’s a pleasure to open this session of Action Line C6 on forging the enabling environment for our shared digital destiny. For nearly a quarter of a century, yes, a quarter of a century, the GSR best practice guidelines have served as the global regulatory blueprint for digital development. Far from being set in stone, the guidelines are a dynamic chronicle of our collective wisdom, forged through discussions like today’s, and guiding us through decades of profound change. This is the trusted foundation of tried and tested principles that we build upon today. And this brings me to the profound importance of our current focus, which is framed by the GSR 2025 consultation question, what does it take for regulators to become digital ecosystem builders, which in fact, we will discuss in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from the 1st to the 3rd of September with the 31st of August being dedicated to a master class. Clearly, this question is a call to action as much as a topic for discussion. The digital world is no longer a separate sector to oversee, but the main platform for all of our lives, for modern life, for commerce, for growth. And so regulators have a duty to ensure that it is fit for purpose. As regulators look to modernize and adapt to remain effective, we see all of you issuing consultations that address a broad range of digital issues, from online safety to AI governance, from digital content to intelligent platforms, from 5G networks to Leo satellites, as well as IoT and futuristic agile spectrum. We are seeing developed and emerging countries alike grappling with these issues simultaneously. And at the same time, they must continue to focus on a core mandate, which is universal and meaningful connectivity, together with sustainable digital transformation. So this means the role of the regulator is and must continue to evolve. We must transition from being traditional supervisors into proactive architects and facilitators of innovation. Our task is to cultivate agile digital ecosystems where investment is secure, competition is fair, and development brings a truly sustainable digital world for all. And that came up in the Knowledge Café we just had a while ago, talking about the C6 enabling environment action line. So these issues continue to be raised. Ladies and gentlemen, this vision cannot be raised from a single viewpoint. We must be inclusive. And the role of our regional regulatory associations is absolutely essential. Because you are the engines of harmonization. You create the coherent landscapes needed for cross-border services to flourish together with your membership. You are the catalysts for capacity building, sharing expertise that empowers every regulator to face the challenges of tomorrow. And you provide the critical voice of regional reality, ensuring the blueprints we design are practical, relevant, and effective on the ground. We at ITU, as a team, and as ITU as a whole, are committed to empowering you to lead this change through initiatives like the BDT’s digital regulation network. So we all look forward to a rich and interactive discussion today. And the insights will be shared, will be the bedrock, and enrich the GSR best practice guidelines, which we are actually drafting today, together with the inputs from the consultation. And it will resonate through the broader vision of the WSIS 20 review. Thank you, and looking forward to the discussions. Back to you, Ahmed.

Ahmed El-Raghy: Thank you so much, Sophie, for these insightful remarks. And ladies and gentlemen, as we discussed today, that our discussion will be about the digital ecosystem builder and how regulatory bodies could refine, could redefine their roles based on that. So we will have wonderful executives from the regulatory authorities and also from the regulatory associations, so they can share with us their insights about that. So I wish to introduce our panelists today. So I will start to my left. We have Mr. Omar Regraghi, Deputy Governor of the Space Communication Commission of Saudi Arabia, and also representing the ARGNET for the Arab region. We have Ms. Katrina Imadazi, the Commissioner of Georgian National Communication Commission and also the outgoing chairperson for the EBUREC as Eastern Europe Regulatory Association. We have Mr. Rafeer Merlin, the board member of ARCEP and also representative of FRATEL. And we have our dear friend, Mr. Petrus Gladius, Deputy Commissioner at the Cyprus Regulatory Authority of Electronic Communication and Postal Service and also chairing of the EMERGE, Euro-Mediterranean area. We’re expecting to have Mr. Louis Sakala, the Director General of ARCEP Congo, but I believe he will join us very soon. So ladies and gentlemen, before we start our discussion, we will go for a foundation background. And I wish to give the floor to my colleague, Yulia Lazanova from ITU to give us this foundation background about the discussion

Youlia Lozanova: topic for today. Yulia, please. Thank you very much, Ahmed. And good afternoon to everyone. It’s great to see so many faces in this small room. I think we could have used a bigger room for this discussion. That really is an excellent start for our conversation. And indeed, it is an excellent and very timely opportunity to have you here today to talk about the next chapter of regulation towards building our digital future together. The consultation process that is happening every year in the lead up to GSR is where we invite stakeholders, voices from government, from the private sector, from civil society to come together and to provide the views and the needs, the experiences of all of the different stakeholder groups towards improving regulation and making it more agile and more future facing. I’m seeing many familiar faces in the audience. And for those of you who are from a regulator, you’re very familiar with the Global Symposium for Regulators and the consultation process. For the sake of those who might not have been involved or engaged with this process to this point, I wanted to just give a little bit of a background to introduce that consultation, so we can make the most of the time together and you can understand the setup that we’re working in and the goals that we’re working towards. The open consultation of the Global Symposium of Regulators happens every year in the lead up to the annual event since 2003. And that’s an impressive longevity of the GSR as an event, as a platform, but also the stakeholder consultation. And really speaking to the very great importance that is given to the process itself, but also the outcome of that consultation, which are the annual set of best practice guidelines. And as I mentioned, contributions are welcome from governments, from regulators, from ministries, but also from private sector, from market players, and of course, civil society. And very relevant to this discussion today, we also receive contributions to the best practice guidelines from regulatory associations, from regional regulatory associations. And they’re important since they represent the use of several countries and really express that agenda that is common for region, for sub-region, for a group of countries. The GSR best practice guidelines are developed under the auspices of the chair of GSR and they’re adopted at the heads of regulators meeting which happens right at the start of the annual event. And this year at that meeting, the meeting is not only going to adopt the best practice guidelines, but heads of regulators are also having the very difficult but also very important task to start the conversation on operationalizing the best practice guidelines and really taking them one step further in shaping that enabling environment for their markets, for their ecosystems as we will see for the topic of this year’s consultation. You might be interested to see, I hope you will be, the collection of GSR best practice guidelines. We have more than 20 editions of the guidelines available in the six ITU and UN official languages those are available in a library on our website. And as Sophie mentioned, those guidelines, all of the editions that we have there, they provide a blueprint for regulatory excellence. This is something that is very important since what we’re doing in that process is really distilling the wisdom and the experience of many of you through those very complex processes that regulation and markets are evolving together. Moving on to this year’s topic of the consultation, it is quite unique in the history of GSR since we have every year until now focused on regulation. So what is a regulatory best practice approach instrument that would serve towards a goal? And in that very extensive collection of best practices, we have more specific guidelines on topics like universal access or infrastructure sharing, as we also have guidelines looking at more broadly how to improve connectivity, how to enable digital transformation, so those more complex and more overarching topics. But this time in 2025, we are actually focusing exclusively or almost exclusively on the regulatory institution, on the authority, on the people as well doing regulation. And as part of that lens that we’re having for this year’s edition of the best practice guidelines, we recognize that there are a number of shifts that are operating in the environment. One of the shifts is, of course, that shift from regulatory oversight to a more proactive shaping of the enabling environment. And I just wanted to clarify that when we say proactive shaping, we don’t necessarily mean that we will be regulating more or we will be regulating more heavily, but that’s simply to account for the fact that we will be engaging with many more stakeholders in that whole process. And we will be doing that on a continuing basis, not as a one-off exercise. And then another shift that we have been observing for a few years, of course, or over a decade maybe today, is from managing a sector, a vertical, to managing an ecosystem, really providing that foundation for digital societies, for digital economies to happen. And of course, we also need to recognize that regulators are changing operating models from reactive, reacting to change, to more forward-looking and anticipatory in view of that relentless change that we’re experiencing across the board. The question that we have formulated for this year in consultation is around the qualities or the capacities that are necessary for regulators to become an ecosystem builder. So, what does it take for regulators to become ecosystem builders? And as part of that reflection, we have four main parts of the consultation. One is looking at fostering innovation in regulatory approaches. So, of course, there is a lot of innovation happening in markets and that level of innovation regulators need to understand and then find the right response to react to. But that also speaks to the fact that there is an innovation culture that regulators need to develop to be able to approach that exercise in a different way, in a more efficient and more appropriate way in the current circumstance. And then the second pillar of the consultation or the second area that we’re looking at is regulatory capacity. So, of course, this is a very major, very traditional mainstay of the regulatory institution of regulators. We’re looking at mandates, how those need to evolve. We’re looking at capacities, resources from different angles. And really, again, in that bigger perspective of being able to make sense of the changes in the environment and being able to decide which ones of those require regulatory action and what kind of action and which maybe do not require any action. So, certainly, there is a whole new thinking around the capacities, the skills, the mindsets that are needed for that. And, of course, ICT regulators are also having to regulate technologies or certain aspects of those technologies in the market, but they should also proactively look for ways to integrate those technologies in their core operations, adopting new tools, adopting new ways of working in order to make available that data that they need on a timely basis to make various regulatory decisions. So, certainly, there is a lot around that discussion on what are the tools, what is the data, what are the new ways of integrating new technologies into the regulators’ work. And then, of course, the fourth pillar of this consultation is what is the most appropriate and the most relevant part of the consultation for this discussion, which is around cross-border cooperation and how to strengthen that. And we have received so far 48 contributions from governments, from private sector, from civil society, and it has been incredibly interesting and very insightful to discover all the various practical and strategic means that they have identified towards strengthening that cooperation. So, we wanted to provide some of the ideas or the general areas where we think we can provide a foot for thought for this panel. The first one is about making collaboration results driven. And, of course, we’ve been engaging in that discussion about orientation towards results. This time, we’re really engaging with that topic at the international level and at the regional level and recognizing that collaboration is good, but results are important, and this is something that should be driving that collaboration. Of course, we also have here the issue of harmonization. This is a very established, very longstanding area of international cooperation. In this day and time, it is also very clear that we cannot engage or harmonize on absolutely every topic. So, there is a sense of prioritization that needs to be operated also at that level to make sure that we address the issues that are the most important, that matter the most. And then, of course, there is a capacity building component, and I mean capacity building in a broader sense. We’ve formulated it here as building shared learning infrastructure, but that’s simply to recognize that we’re looking at learning at the regional or international level from the various experiences that various countries and regulators have been able to accumulate, but also sharing that experience with the community and making sure that we have a collective learning curve through that uncertain and very fast-changing environment. Coordination around data, tools, and standards also stands out as one of the topics potentially of interest and importance for international collaboration as well. And I think your experience might be speaking to that. Using specific indicators, specific tools at the national level does not really read the really offer the opportunity to aggregate trends or patterns or discussions at the regional level, so certainly there might be something to be done there, again, using those new technologies. One of the themes that have come also strong through the contributions was about using international cooperation and regional representation as a platform to assert the regional voice and stand up for digital sovereignty of countries, of regions as well. Forums like WSIS, platforms like ITU are certainly places where that conversation happens and where those regional positions can be elevated. And of course, there is, last but not least, really, a very strong component in that discussion that we have been able to identify, which is about integrating that international perspective into the rest of the regulators’ work, into the national perspective, so really understanding international cooperation not as an add-on, not as something separate or additional or accessory to the work on national priorities, but something that is really dynamically and organically linked to those national agendas. So certainly, we offer those thoughts for you and for your discussion, and I’m just going to give you a quick timeline so you know how that process is going to continue from now on before I wrap up. 48 contributions received today, we’re still open for contributions, so we are happy to hear your feedback here, your views, but we’re also happy to receive your contributions in a written format until the end of the consultation at the end of August. We will be publishing a draft, a first draft of the GSR Best Practice Guidelines in probably in the next two weeks, again, that would be a process done under the auspices of the GSR Chair, of the GSR25 Chair, and that draft is also going to be open for comments on our website until the Heads of Regulators Roundtable meeting at GSR, where the guidelines are going to be adopted. And I think I will stop here, we have just included in the online presentation a little slide on all of the various activities that are linked to regulatory work and best practices and experiences, and I wish you a very insightful panel.

Ekaterine Imedadze: Thank you so much, Julia, and I wish to go directly for our executive today and allow me to start with Katrina. So Katrina, from your experience and engagement in EBERG, how do you see the strategies, the main strategies to cultivate innovation as a culture for regulatory development? And also, how do you see the balance between harmonized approaches and agility at the same time? How to balance between the risk and opportunity in this innovative development? Please, Katrina. Good afternoon, dear colleagues, Excellencies, it’s a real pleasure that we have first physical meeting for the DRN board, and when we’ve learned about this opportunity or initiative, let’s say, I think that EBERG is one of the networks, quite a years we have as a network, it will count, so 15 years since establishing the partnership network, but it is always a great opportunity for the network of small markets, small countries to become part of a larger network, and DRN was called Network of Networks, I remember this motto. And I can tell, I can share that throughout the years of EBERG, let me give you a quick information for the audience that at EBERG, we are five countries, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, and Moldova, so we have also motto, together we are stronger, and now we are becoming even stronger with global network participation as a DRN part, and our approach throughout the years, so we have three main pillars of work, which is a legacy, classical role of regulators, this is working on regulatory innovation, independence, story, and benchmarking, so you were mentioning actually the transforming regulations, so one of the our working groups is exactly about, it was called initially independence and benchmarking, so we work a lot about the institutional development, and we work with our international partners to understand where we stand as the participants of the network from organizational perspective, and where we can move from the best practices. Another group is about the spectrum, which is also the big topic everywhere, especially with evolving technologies, whether now we are moving to space and satellites, always the spectrum group is very important, before that spectrum group was working, engaged with 5G technology and all the advanced technologies, and the third one, it was specifically for our region, it is roaming working group, but it has a lot, it has done by now a lot of work with traditional telecom services, like interconnection, which always remains our primary role and legacy, so these three pillars helped us to find out what are the areas where we can develop, and as a small, some of us are quite smaller market, Ukraine is of course the bigger one, but actually doing the projects jointly helped us a lot to move forward, and to find like donor organizations who would help us with capacity building and transform ourselves, and what we’ve learned, what we understood quite quickly, and maybe this large exchange of the experience and support from the EU, which was always substantial, but also supporting each other with experience has helped us a lot to become more agile regulators, and what does it mean, that as you have mentioned, we understand that role of regulator is no more just watching the market, not just, but watching the market and regulating, it’s already for a few years or maybe always almost a decade, we need to become enablers, because market is transforming and digital is cross-cutting, it’s not anymore like the telecommunication and direct connection by phone, but this is a digital, this is enabler of digital development of the country, this was I guess the first understanding for especially maybe smaller countries, and this is that it’s quicker, you need to adapt to a new digital landscape, and regulator is a very good enabler, and can play very good role in this enablement process, so we were exchanging our experiences with 5G rollouts, how we are going to approach, how we are going to distribute frequencies, and through this working groups, it was, and in those working groups were not only five countries, but international experts included, so this gives a huge flexibility, for this is for the innovation, for the benchmarking of regulators, again we had international experts, and we could learn how regulators are changing, transforming their capacities, for example, I think, which is, was quite new few years ago, this cyber security capacities, we’ve learned how they are, I think, it’s a scarce resource to find security experts, and yeah, can you do it, or maybe it’s more wishful thinking, but still, so this was in another direction, then same with roaming, when we were discussing specifically EU roaming approach, we learned a lot about the interconnection, about the market, about the MVNO same, so this is how we are, and maybe being, maybe smaller network, but very much interconnected, helped us to quicker tackle, the same was with Starlink, for example, sharing how we gave the authorization, what were our, I mean, the satellite company, Starlink was one of the first entrants in our region, so this is our journey, and we are really happy to be now part of TRN network, where we can discuss with wider pillars of digital, so we’re still looking from the the perspective, which is still coming from our legacy roles, that I was mentioning now, but as far as digital is in every pillar of economy, it’s very important at the, this kind of the networks, and the boards, to understand what are other geographies and other sectors doing. Thank you.

Ahmed El-Raghy: Thank you so much, Ekaterina. That’s a very interesting journey and very interesting plan. And as you highlighted, many pillars needed for this cultivating of innovations in the regulatory framework. So I would like to go to Mr. Merland. Being a regulator in advanced digital market and also working with fratel diversified economies in that position, how do you see advanced regulatory approach be adopted to foster innovation without overwhelming developed economies? What be the crucial lessons from advanced markets as I said, working in France and to promote and help members and fratel to be more efficient digital ecosystem builders?

Xavier Merlin: Please, Mr. Merland. Thank you very much, Hamid, for your presentation and question. And good afternoon, everybody. First of all, I will start by recalling what fratel is because I’m not sure everybody knows about fratel. Fratel is a network of regulator which was created 20 years ago. And what those regulators have in common is not a regional area, but it’s a language. It’s French. And that is very specific because that means that not all members of fratel are, of course, located in the same area. There are members in America, in Africa, in Europe, notably. But the fact that they have French in common also means that they have, to some extent, their legal framework has something in common because they have common grounds. It’s not identical. They are not identical, but they are built on common principles. That’s, of course, important for the discussions we have. Regarding the issue of maturity, I’d like to address this very quickly. I really don’t believe that difference of maturity in digital markets between members is really an issue. And on the contrary, I would even think it’s something very interesting and very rich in our exchange because if everybody were saying the same thing, there would be no purpose for exchange. But we have common problems and different experiences. And that’s where it becomes interesting to share. It’s also interesting, as Ekaterine has recalled, to say that historically we’re all telco regulators and now we are moving in digital world, which is something a little bit different with different actors, different problems, different scopes. And of course, we’re all confronted to global players, global digital services and social concerns, which are more or less the same in all our countries. So, what are we doing at Fratel? I would say that the purpose of this network is absolutely not to harmonize. That would be nonsense. It’s really to share questions, to share experiences, to share good practices and also bad practices, and to anticipate. It’s really to have a step forward to be sure to understand what comes next because, as has been said before, our regulatory environment, our environment is moving very fast and we need to understand and have as many keys to address this. So, I would personally categorize the work that is done within Fratel in three parts. The first one would be new regulatory issues, which is about the content of our policy. What kind of policy do we need to implement to address new subjects like satellite, like digital services, like artificial intelligence, like cloud, which are objects that we didn’t know about a few years ago. Is there a need for regulation? What kind of regulation? And then, of course, France can share its experience as France and as a member of the European Union because you know that some of these issues are relevant for European regulation as well. So, that would be the first area, is new regulatory issues, new regulatory topics. The second issue I would underline is new regulatory tools. As has been said by Julia in her presentation, we are all facing the question of how to regulate in a moving environment, fast-moving environment, what kind of tools are pertinent and appropriate to regulate. Historically, the regulator took decisions, but that is a long process, it’s very complicated, it’s not always adapted to the situation. So, we try to identify new possible ways to regulate. I’ll just give one example, which we call data-driven regulation, which is not about providing decisions but providing data. And giving serious data to the market is a way of indicating what happens in the market, sharing this information between all actors and giving messages, encouraging them to move in the direction without imposing anything, which is very comfortable for a regulator because it has nothing to do, almost nothing to do. But that’s a way to move forward and that’s one of the new tools. There are also sandboxes, it’s something which many regulators have been using, which can seem very appropriate. And I would say that those tools are very useful in an environment where you don’t really know, you have new social concerns emerging, but you don’t really know how far your regulator can engage in this direction. That’s the case, for example, for RCEP in the environment issue, because we started to work on the question of the impact of digital environment before having any competence on this issue. So, that’s where we started to publish data and then we gained competence from the parliament. But that kind of thinking about how we can regulate is something very important. And last but not least is about cooperation, but not international cooperation. I would address national cooperation. Why? Because digital is a very complex universe with many issues. There are competition issues, there are technical issues, there are sovereignty issues, there are, as you said, security issues, there are privacy issues, and not a single regulator can have in his hands, at least not in France, all this competence. So, that means we need to start working with our fellow partners, regulators, or public authorities competent in this field, and then exchanging our experience at Fratel on this issue is very pertinent, because we see how in certain countries there are new ways of addressing issues, how certain regulators already have maximum competence on certain issues, etc. So, that’s a way of trying to address the very vast scope of competence that are required by digital competence and digital regulation. I will stop here just by saying that I think that the presentation that I gave of this scope is very much in line with the consultation you underlined, and we are very happy to contribute to this. Thank you.

Ahmed El-Raghy: Thank you so much, Mr. Murnau. Very interesting having these new ways of regulation that are driven one and also how to develop the regulatory framework to achieve this kind of new role for the regulators. So, I would like to go to Mr. Egraghi, representing the Argnet and coming from the Middle East region, Arab region, and having a leading and significant digital transformation initiative also in Saudi Arabia. From your perspective, how regulatory framework adopt to support this kind of huge investment in emerging technologies? How to ensure this kind of investment could be translated to more sustainable and inclusive digital ecosystem?

Omar Al Rejraje: Please, Mr. Egraghi. Thank you, Ahmed. It’s my pleasure to be here with the distinguished guests and everyone here in the room. Whenever we mention investment in the emerging tech, five things come to mind, always in the investor’s mind, whether scalability of the service or the solution, the innovation in that solution, the growth, the risk. And when I say the risk, always the risk lies under the regulators or the market dynamics. So, that’s why the purpose or the main object for the regulator is to de-risk these issues. Instead of regulating it and do, let’s say, rule enforcement, it should be de-risking all the elements that are not enabling the solution or the service or the technology to be adapted, to be launched, to be going forward in that direction. So, as you mentioned, maybe in the Arab region, there’s a lot of investment activities being done. There’s a lot of emerging tech, let’s say, solution being introduced. And you can see that even in CST, we just, let’s say, ranked number one in the G20. We are honored for that, for the Digital Maturity Index. And it’s not a badge for CST, it’s more into responsibility and that thing that we’re taking into consideration to share the experience and to engage everyone in the region, not to be left behind in this regard. When we say de-risking the factors of not enabling, let’s say, the emerging tech, it came through two different approaches. One approach is using the sandbox. We have just last week launched the third cohort of the sandbox solution in Saudi. We’re enabling space and even different sectors in Saudi to be able to experiment and to use their solution with less restrictions and to try their business models, their solutions in the country freely. So we are expecting that third cohort will be graduating by the end of this year. And also, the second thing we use is direct tech. And why we’re saying direct tech? You cannot regulate what you don’t understand, and you cannot enable what you don’t understand. So for us, if you want to walk the walk, we need to use this emerging tech. to be able to utilize and try this in our regulation, in our inside, let’s say, regulatory body in the market. Can we use cloud, blockchain? Can we use emerging tech in the country so we can see how to work in the regulatory sites? So we believe RIC tech is not a tool. It’s a strategic enabler for trust, for speed, to make regulation fast, as fast as innovation. And we have launched different solutions in the RIC tech in Saudi, such as blockchain for sender IDs, and hopefully by next GSR, we will launch some different solutions also in that event. When we say agility and the speed of innovation, speed of regulation, this creates another risk in the future. Are we catering for this future? Are we looking at that future? What will happen on that? And we have one subject that’s always raised in the future, which is sustainability. That’s why we have worked with the DCO, Digital Cooperation Organization, to make sure, and we have built a toolkit for sustainability, for digital sustainability, to make sure that the carbon footprint, green networks, green data centers being enabled in a toolkit way, an easy way to be adapted by different regulators worldwide. And we are more than happy to share even the experience with everyone and to enhance it more and more. And then I would like to say that to enable emerging tech investment, regulators should evolve. They should evolve from normal regulators to ecosystem builders, to experiment adapters, to innovation promoters. And thank you.

Ahmed El-Raghy: Thank you a lot, Engineer Omar, and really RIC-TEC, experimentation, regulation, are core for such development for regulatory framework. So I wish to go to Mr. Gladius. From your experience and engagement with European regulators, with eMERGE, how you see emerging technologies like AI, big data, and regulatory and cloud computing can be used as a tool for regulatory excellence? What are the most successful institutional mechanisms you have seen for enhancing cross-sectorial cooperation between ICT regulators and other stakeholders? So Petrus, please.

Petros Galides: Thank you. Thank you very much, Moderator, dear Ahmed. Just a few words about eMERGE, as my colleague said. So eMERGE is a Euro-Mediterranean regulators group for electronic communications. It comprises of 27 members, European, EU and not, and essentially all Mediterranean countries. So that’s the background to what eMERGE is. Now regulators are co-creators of the healthy and innovative digital system that we are witnessing today. Now as ex-ante regulators, technologies like AI and big data enable us to be even more proactive and evidence-based. The impact of regulatory measures can be tested in safe environments, as my dear friend Omer has mentioned, before implementation, and even after implementation, they can be monitored in near real-time and be continuously optimized. As was said before, it’s good to try and use these tools so that you are able to also regulate them. We have created some tools in our regulatory authority in Cyprus, like a market observatory, also a numbering and licensing tool, a learning management system, and a geospatial intelligence tool that help us monitor and regulate. All these have been combined on a big data platform, and the non-confidential data in that platform is open to the public. So it can be used by the public to enhance innovation, and of course for more transparency and to further improve trust. Of course for organizations to achieve this and develop, as again has been mentioned before by the colleagues, we require strengthening of institutional capacity and digital skills, and of course a change in culture that is needed as we are evolving and transitioning. And of course we need to ensure effective integration and ethical oversight of AI tools. Now the challenges of the digital age, like digital security and the enhancement of AI, the advancement of AI, are increasingly complex and intertwined. So no single authority or nation, however big or powerful or technologically advanced, can really tackle these challenges. Of course, luckily there is a simple answer, and that is cross-sectoral and global collaboration. This collaboration can be either in the form of loose informal collaboration, or a more official one, say in the form of MOUs, many of which are being signed in this venue during this week, and of course always the active participation in multilateral international platforms like the ITU and regional bodies like the ones represented on this table have proved extremely effective. Now at the national level, the best mechanism that we’ve seen is combined portfolios. So in an integrated structure like telecoms, postal services, digital security, maybe data protection, perhaps competition, any combination of those, or more. But generally, sort of beyond just discussing how important collaboration is, to achieve it in practice, we need to recognize and overcome barriers that really exist and hinder the collaboration between authorities. And this usually, I’m sure most of you have seen them, they are protectionism, defensiveness, introversion, what we call silos, perhaps lack of trust, even ignorance. There may also be legal obstacles, of course, and in many cases, a limitation of resources. So we need to address those and overcome them in order to achieve real collaboration. There have been, of course, many successes. The regional bodies we’ve mentioned before that are here on this table are sort of living examples of successes of collaboration. So trust, interoperability, and shared objectives have been and will be critical success factors for collaboration. So technology enables smarter regulation, but it’s the human and institutional collaboration that ensures it is used wisely.

Ahmed El-Raghy: Thank you so much. Thank you, Dr. Petrus. And very insightful remarks and technology really enable this kind of technology development. Unfortunately, we have to leave the room for the next meeting. So I’m so sorry for no space for having questions from yours. My apology for that. So by the end of this session, I really would like to thank you so much, our executives and leaders today in the regulatory field. And we look forward to your contribution for the consultation process. Please follow us in the GSR web page for that. And we look forward to see you all in the coming GSR in Riyadh to continue the discussion about the best practice for regulatory development. Thank you so much.

UNKNOWN:

Agreement points

Regulators must transition from traditional oversight to proactive digital ecosystem builders

Speakers

– Sofie Maddens
– Omar Al Rejraje
– Petros Galides
– Ekaterine Imedadze
– Ahmed El-Raghy

Arguments

Regulators must transition from traditional supervisors to proactive architects and facilitators of innovation

Regulators need to evolve from normal regulators to ecosystem builders, experiment adapters, and innovation promoters

Regulators are co-creators of the healthy and innovative digital system and must be more proactive and evidence-based

The role of regulator is no longer just watching and regulating the market, but becoming enablers of digital development

Regulatory bodies need to redefine their roles to become digital ecosystem builders

Summary

All speakers agree that the fundamental role of regulators must evolve from passive oversight to active ecosystem building, requiring them to become proactive facilitators of innovation rather than traditional supervisors

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development

Cross-border and regional cooperation is essential for effective digital regulation

Speakers

– Sofie Maddens
– Petros Galides
– Ekaterine Imedadze
– Xavier Merlin
– Ahmed El-Raghy

Arguments

Regional regulatory associations are engines of harmonization and catalysts for capacity building

Cross-sectoral and global collaboration is essential as no single authority can tackle complex digital challenges alone

Small networks of countries can become stronger through joint projects and shared learning experiences

Sharing experiences between regulators with common problems but different experiences creates rich exchanges

Sharing insights between regulatory authorities and associations is essential for developing effective digital ecosystem approaches

Summary

There is strong consensus that regulatory challenges in the digital age require collaborative approaches, with regional networks and international cooperation being essential for capacity building and knowledge sharing

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development

Regulators must integrate new technologies into their own operations to effectively regulate them

Speakers

– Youlia Lozanova
– Omar Al Rejraje
– Petros Galides

Arguments

ICT regulators should proactively integrate new technologies into their core operations and adopt new tools for timely decision-making

You cannot regulate what you don’t understand, so regulators must use emerging technologies internally to understand how to regulate them

Creating tools like market observatories, licensing systems, and big data platforms helps monitor and regulate while providing transparency

Summary

Speakers agree that regulators must adopt and use the technologies they regulate internally to gain proper understanding and make informed regulatory decisions

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Infrastructure

Innovation culture and new regulatory approaches are necessary for modern regulation

Speakers

– Youlia Lozanova
– Omar Al Rejraje
– Petros Galides
– Xavier Merlin

Arguments

There is an innovation culture that regulators need to develop to approach regulatory challenges in a more efficient way

Regulators should use RegTech as a strategic enabler for trust and speed to make regulation as fast as innovation

Technologies like AI and big data enable regulators to be more proactive and evidence-based through testing in safe environments

New regulatory tools like data-driven regulation and sandboxes are needed for fast-moving environments

Summary

All speakers emphasize the need for regulators to develop innovation cultures and adopt new regulatory tools and approaches to keep pace with technological change

Topics

Legal and regulatory

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers emphasize the importance of regulatory sandboxes and practical experimentation as tools for enabling innovation while sharing experiences on emerging technologies like 5G and satellite services

Speakers

– Ekaterine Imedadze
– Omar Al Rejraje

Arguments

De-risking investment factors through sandboxes and direct technology experimentation enables emerging technology adoption

Exchange of experiences on emerging technologies like 5G rollouts and Starlink authorization helps networks tackle new challenges more effectively

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Infrastructure

Both speakers recognize that effective digital regulation requires enhanced institutional capacity and collaboration with other authorities due to the complexity and cross-sectoral nature of digital challenges

Speakers

– Petros Galides
– Xavier Merlin

Arguments

Strengthening institutional capacity, digital skills, and cultural change are required for organizations to develop regulatory tools

National cooperation with other regulatory bodies is essential because digital regulation requires diverse competencies that no single regulator possesses

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development

Both speakers emphasize the importance of sustainability in digital transformation, highlighting the need for regulators to address environmental concerns while ensuring universal connectivity

Speakers

– Sofie Maddens
– Omar Al Rejraje

Arguments

Regulators must focus on universal and meaningful connectivity together with sustainable digital transformation

Building toolkits for digital sustainability including carbon footprint reduction and green networks is essential for future-oriented regulation

Topics

Development | Infrastructure

Unexpected consensus

Smaller regulatory markets and networks can be more agile and effective

Speakers

– Ekaterine Imedadze
– Xavier Merlin

Arguments

Smaller countries need to adapt quickly to new digital landscapes and regulators can play a good enabling role in this process

Sharing experiences between regulators with common problems but different experiences creates rich exchanges

Explanation

Unexpectedly, both speakers from different regional contexts (EBERG and FRATEL) agree that smaller regulatory markets and diverse experiences within networks can actually be advantages rather than limitations, enabling faster adaptation and richer learning exchanges

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development

Cybersecurity expertise is a critical but scarce resource requiring collaborative approaches

Speakers

– Ekaterine Imedadze
– Petros Galides

Arguments

Cyber security capacity building is a scarce resource that requires collaborative approaches among regulators

Cross-sectoral and global collaboration is essential as no single authority can tackle complex digital challenges alone

Explanation

There is unexpected consensus on the specific challenge of cybersecurity capacity building, with both speakers acknowledging the scarcity of security experts and the need for collaborative solutions, which wasn’t a primary focus of the discussion but emerged as a shared concern

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Cybersecurity

Overall assessment

Summary

The speakers demonstrate remarkably high consensus on the fundamental transformation needed in regulatory approaches, the importance of international cooperation, the necessity of technology integration, and the need for innovation culture in regulation

Consensus level

Very high consensus with strong alignment on core principles. The implications are significant as this suggests a global regulatory community that is aligned on the direction of regulatory evolution, which should facilitate the development of coherent international best practices and enable more effective cross-border cooperation in digital governance. The consensus provides a solid foundation for the GSR best practice guidelines development process.

Different viewpoints

Approach to harmonization vs. flexibility in regulatory cooperation

Speakers

– Xavier Merlin
– Youlia Lozanova

Arguments

The purpose of this network is absolutely not to harmonize. That would be nonsense. It’s really to share questions, to share experiences, to share good practices and also bad practices, and to anticipate.

International cooperation should be results-driven with prioritized harmonization on the most important topics

Summary

Merlin explicitly rejects harmonization as a goal for Fratel, emphasizing experience sharing instead, while Lozanova advocates for strategic prioritized harmonization on important topics as part of results-driven cooperation.

Topics

Legal and regulatory

Scale and scope of regulatory networks

Speakers

– Ekaterine Imedadze
– Xavier Merlin

Arguments

Small networks of countries can become stronger through joint projects and shared learning experiences

Sharing experiences between regulators with common problems but different experiences creates rich exchanges

Summary

Imedadze emphasizes the advantages of small, focused networks for building strength through collaboration, while Merlin focuses on the value of diversity in experiences regardless of network size, suggesting different optimal approaches to network composition.

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development

Unexpected differences

Role of maturity differences in regulatory cooperation

Speakers

– Xavier Merlin
– Ekaterine Imedadze

Arguments

Sharing experiences between regulators with common problems but different experiences creates rich exchanges

Small networks of countries can become stronger through joint projects and shared learning experiences

Explanation

This disagreement is unexpected because both speakers advocate for collaborative learning, but Merlin sees maturity differences as beneficial for rich exchanges, while Imedadze focuses on small, similar networks becoming stronger together. This suggests different philosophies about optimal learning environments in regulatory cooperation.

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development

Overall assessment

Summary

The discussion shows remarkably high consensus on fundamental goals with limited disagreements mainly around implementation approaches and network structures

Disagreement level

Low to moderate disagreement level. The speakers demonstrate strong alignment on the core transformation needed in regulatory roles – from traditional oversight to digital ecosystem building. Disagreements are primarily tactical rather than strategic, focusing on how to achieve shared goals rather than what those goals should be. This suggests a mature field where practitioners agree on direction but are still exploring optimal methods, which is positive for collaborative development of regulatory best practices.

Partial agreements

Similar viewpoints

Both speakers emphasize the importance of regulatory sandboxes and practical experimentation as tools for enabling innovation while sharing experiences on emerging technologies like 5G and satellite services

Speakers

– Ekaterine Imedadze
– Omar Al Rejraje

Arguments

De-risking investment factors through sandboxes and direct technology experimentation enables emerging technology adoption

Exchange of experiences on emerging technologies like 5G rollouts and Starlink authorization helps networks tackle new challenges more effectively

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Infrastructure

Both speakers recognize that effective digital regulation requires enhanced institutional capacity and collaboration with other authorities due to the complexity and cross-sectoral nature of digital challenges

Speakers

– Petros Galides
– Xavier Merlin

Arguments

Strengthening institutional capacity, digital skills, and cultural change are required for organizations to develop regulatory tools

National cooperation with other regulatory bodies is essential because digital regulation requires diverse competencies that no single regulator possesses

Topics

Legal and regulatory | Development

Both speakers emphasize the importance of sustainability in digital transformation, highlighting the need for regulators to address environmental concerns while ensuring universal connectivity

Speakers

– Sofie Maddens
– Omar Al Rejraje

Arguments

Regulators must focus on universal and meaningful connectivity together with sustainable digital transformation

Building toolkits for digital sustainability including carbon footprint reduction and green networks is essential for future-oriented regulation

Topics

Development | Infrastructure

Key takeaways

Regulators must fundamentally transform from traditional supervisors to proactive digital ecosystem builders and innovation facilitators

The digital world has become the main platform for all aspects of modern life, requiring regulators to shift from managing a vertical sector to managing entire ecosystems

Innovation culture must be cultivated within regulatory institutions, including adoption of new tools like data-driven regulation, sandboxes, and RegTech solutions

Cross-border and cross-sectoral cooperation is essential as no single authority can tackle complex digital challenges alone – regional regulatory associations serve as engines of harmonization and capacity building

Regulators need new capacities, skills, and mindsets to address rapidly evolving technologies like AI, big data, cloud computing, and emerging digital services

Technology integration into regulatory operations is crucial – regulators must use emerging technologies internally to understand how to regulate them effectively

Sustainable digital transformation must be prioritized alongside universal connectivity, including considerations for carbon footprint and green networks

The GSR best practice guidelines consultation process focuses on identifying qualities and capacities necessary for regulators to become effective ecosystem builders

Resolutions and action items

Continue accepting written contributions to the GSR consultation until the end of August

Publish first draft of GSR Best Practice Guidelines within two weeks under the auspices of the GSR Chair

Open the draft guidelines for public comments on the website until the Heads of Regulators Roundtable meeting

Adopt the final GSR Best Practice Guidelines at the Heads of Regulators meeting during GSR 2025 in Riyadh (September 1-3)

Share experiences and toolkits for digital sustainability developed by Saudi Arabia’s CST and DCO with other regulators worldwide

Continue developing and sharing RegTech solutions, with Saudi Arabia planning to launch new blockchain and other solutions by next GSR

Unresolved issues

How to effectively balance harmonized approaches with the need for regulatory agility in fast-moving digital environments

Specific mechanisms for operationalizing the best practice guidelines beyond their adoption

Detailed frameworks for prioritizing which areas require harmonization versus those that can remain nationally differentiated

Concrete solutions for overcoming barriers to collaboration such as protectionism, silos, legal obstacles, and resource limitations

Specific methodologies for measuring the effectiveness of results-driven collaboration initiatives

Standardization of data, tools, and indicators across regions to enable better aggregation of trends and patterns

Suggested compromises

Focus on results-driven collaboration rather than attempting to harmonize everything – prioritize harmonization only on the most important topics

Use informal collaboration mechanisms alongside formal MOUs and multilateral platforms to accommodate different levels of institutional readiness

Implement combined regulatory portfolios (telecoms, postal, digital security, data protection, competition) to address cross-sectoral challenges within unified structures

Adopt flexible regulatory tools like data-driven regulation and sandboxes that provide guidance without imposing rigid requirements

Share non-confidential regulatory data publicly to enhance transparency and innovation while protecting sensitive information

Build shared learning infrastructure that allows collective learning while respecting national sovereignty and regional differences

You cannot regulate what you don’t understand, and you cannot enable what you don’t understand. So for us, if you want to walk the walk, we need to use this emerging tech. to be able to utilize and try this in our regulation, in our inside, let’s say, regulatory body in the market.

Speaker

Omar Al Rejraje

Reason

This comment is profoundly insightful because it challenges the traditional regulatory approach of external oversight and proposes internal experimentation as a prerequisite for effective regulation. It introduces the concept that regulators must become practitioners of the technologies they regulate, fundamentally shifting from a supervisory role to an experiential one.

Impact

This comment introduced a new paradigm that influenced the subsequent discussion. It provided concrete justification for the ‘RegTech’ approach and sandbox initiatives, moving the conversation from theoretical frameworks to practical implementation strategies. It also reinforced the theme of regulators as ecosystem builders rather than mere overseers.

We must transition from being traditional supervisors into proactive architects and facilitators of innovation. Our task is to cultivate agile digital ecosystems where investment is secure, competition is fair, and development brings a truly sustainable digital world for all.

Speaker

Sofie Maddens

Reason

This comment is thought-provoking because it reframes the entire regulatory identity from reactive enforcement to proactive ecosystem design. The metaphor of ‘architects and facilitators’ suggests a creative, constructive role rather than a restrictive one, which challenges traditional regulatory thinking.

Impact

This opening statement set the conceptual framework for the entire discussion. It established the central theme that all subsequent speakers built upon – the evolution from traditional regulation to ecosystem building. Each panelist’s contribution can be traced back to responding to or expanding on this fundamental shift in regulatory philosophy.

I really don’t believe that difference of maturity in digital markets between members is really an issue. And on the contrary, I would even think it’s something very interesting and very rich in our exchange because if everybody were saying the same thing, there would be no purpose for exchange.

Speaker

Xavier Merlin

Reason

This comment is insightful because it reframes diversity in regulatory maturity from a challenge to an asset. It challenges the assumption that harmonization requires similar starting points and instead suggests that differences create valuable learning opportunities.

Impact

This perspective shifted the discussion away from concerns about regulatory disparities toward embracing diversity as a strength. It influenced how other speakers framed their regional experiences, encouraging them to highlight unique approaches rather than apologizing for differences in development levels.

The purpose of this network is absolutely not to harmonize. That would be nonsense. It’s really to share questions, to share experiences, to share good practices and also bad practices, and to anticipate.

Speaker

Xavier Merlin

Reason

This comment is provocative because it directly challenges the conventional wisdom that regulatory networks should aim for harmonization. By calling harmonization ‘nonsense,’ it forces a reconsideration of what effective international regulatory cooperation should actually achieve.

Impact

This comment created a turning point in how cross-border cooperation was discussed. It moved the conversation from standardization toward knowledge sharing and anticipatory collaboration, influencing how other speakers framed their regional network activities as learning platforms rather than harmonization efforts.

So no single authority or nation, however big or powerful or technologically advanced, can really tackle these challenges. Of course, luckily there is a simple answer, and that is cross-sectoral and global collaboration.

Speaker

Petros Galides

Reason

This comment is thought-provoking because it acknowledges the fundamental limitations of even the most advanced regulatory authorities in addressing digital challenges, while simultaneously offering collaboration as the ‘simple answer’ – creating an interesting tension between complexity and simplicity.

Impact

This comment reinforced the collaborative theme while adding urgency and universality to the discussion. It helped synthesize the various regional perspectives presented earlier into a unified argument for why ecosystem building requires collaborative approaches, regardless of a regulator’s individual capabilities.

Regulators should evolve. They should evolve from normal regulators to ecosystem builders, to experiment adapters, to innovation promoters.

Speaker

Omar Al Rejraje

Reason

This comment is insightful because it provides a clear evolutionary pathway for regulatory transformation, moving beyond abstract concepts to concrete role definitions. The progression from ‘normal regulators’ to ‘innovation promoters’ maps a clear transformation journey.

Impact

This comment served as a synthesizing conclusion that tied together the various themes discussed throughout the session. It provided a memorable framework that encapsulated the session’s key message about regulatory evolution, giving participants a clear takeaway about the direction of regulatory development.

Overall assessment

These key comments fundamentally shaped the discussion by challenging traditional regulatory paradigms and proposing transformative alternatives. The conversation evolved from theoretical concepts about regulatory change to practical strategies for implementation, largely driven by these provocative insights. The comments created a progression from identifying the need for change (Maddens), to embracing diversity in approaches (Merlin), to practical implementation strategies (Al Rejraje), and finally to collaborative solutions (Galides). Together, they established a new narrative about regulation that moves from enforcement to enablement, from standardization to experimentation, and from isolation to collaboration. The discussion’s impact was amplified by the speakers’ willingness to challenge conventional wisdom and offer concrete examples of how their insights translate into practice.

How to operationalize the GSR best practice guidelines and take them one step further in shaping the enabling environment

Speaker

Youlia Lozanova

Explanation

This was identified as a very difficult but important task for heads of regulators at the upcoming meeting, suggesting it requires further exploration and practical implementation strategies

How to balance between harmonized approaches and agility in regulatory development

Speaker

Ahmed El-Raghy

Explanation

This question was posed to explore the tension between standardization across regions and the need for flexible, responsive regulation

How to balance between risk and opportunity in innovative regulatory development

Speaker

Ahmed El-Raghy

Explanation

This addresses the fundamental challenge regulators face when fostering innovation while managing potential risks

How advanced regulatory approaches can be adopted to foster innovation without overwhelming developing economies

Speaker

Ahmed El-Raghy

Explanation

This explores the challenge of technology transfer and regulatory capacity building across different levels of economic development

What are the crucial lessons from advanced markets to help promote more efficient digital ecosystem builders

Speaker

Ahmed El-Raghy

Explanation

This seeks to identify transferable best practices from mature digital markets to emerging ones

How regulatory frameworks can adapt to support huge investments in emerging technologies

Speaker

Ahmed El-Raghy

Explanation

This addresses the need for regulatory evolution to accommodate and encourage investment in new technologies

How to ensure investments in emerging technologies translate to more sustainable and inclusive digital ecosystems

Speaker

Ahmed El-Raghy

Explanation

This focuses on the outcomes and broader societal impact of technology investments beyond just economic returns

How emerging technologies like AI, big data, and cloud computing can be used as tools for regulatory excellence

Speaker

Ahmed El-Raghy

Explanation

This explores the practical application of new technologies within regulatory institutions themselves

What are the most successful institutional mechanisms for enhancing cross-sectorial cooperation between ICT regulators and other stakeholders

Speaker

Ahmed El-Raghy

Explanation

This seeks to identify proven models for collaboration across different regulatory domains and with various stakeholders

How to address and overcome barriers that hinder collaboration between authorities such as protectionism, defensiveness, silos, lack of trust, legal obstacles, and resource limitations

Speaker

Petros Galides

Explanation

These were identified as practical challenges that need solutions for effective cross-sectoral collaboration

How to ensure effective integration and ethical oversight of AI tools in regulatory work

Speaker

Petros Galides

Explanation

This addresses the responsible implementation of AI technologies within regulatory institutions