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Global ICT regulatory meeting highlights key role of innovation
in driving ICT development
Debates stressed need for more innovative approaches to funding
challenges, ICT taxation, network sharing and licensing of new services
Libreville, Gabon,11 June, 2015 – Promoting digital
inclusion and closing the ‘digital gap’ between a handful of highly
industrialized economies and the world’s many emerging markets and developing
economies will require an innovation-oriented mindset that seeks out new
approaches to regulation as well as to traditional challenges such as
infrastructure funding, service delivery, and taxation of ICT goods and
services, according to delegates at ITU’s
Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR-15), which was held
this week at the Stade de l’Amitié in the Gabonese capital, Libreville.
The GSR,
world’s largest specialized gathering of ICT regulators and policy
specialists from the public and private sectors, was chaired this
year by Lin Mombo, President of Gabon’s ICT regulator, the
Autorité de Régulations des
Communications Electroniques et des Postes (ARCEP). The event was
co-hosted by ITU and ARCEP, under the patronage of His Excellency Mr Ali Bongo
Ondimba, President of Gabon.
The event welcomed around 400 senior international policy makers from over 60
countries, representing the world’s information and communication technology
(ICT) regulatory authorities and leading tech companies. Strategies to
accelerate digital inclusion to leverage the growth potential of emerging
economies and developing markets were a key focus of discussions.
The theme ‘Mind the Digital Gap – Regulatory Incentives to Achieve Digital
Opportunities’, focused on a wide range of pressing regulatory issues, including
mobile payments; network sharing models; taxation and the digital economy; the
‘Internet of Everything’; regulation and broadband uptake; and ways that
regulatory frameworks can help promote accessibility for all.
Speaking to delegates at the start of the morning session on Wednesday 10th,
ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao emphasized the importance of fostering the
growth of technology-based small and medium enterprises in growing each
country’s national digital economy. He also urged countries to invest in youth
through education and ICT training. “Young people are natural innovators, and
today’s youth are also ‘digital natives’ – using ICTs to solve problems and
create useful new services comes naturally to them, so they can become major
drivers of socio-economic change,” said Mr Zhao. “Far-sighted governments should
look to ways of harnessing this energy and creativity to transform their
economies through ICTs and help bridge the digital gap.”
The GSR-15 closing ceremony this afternoon was presided over by the Director
of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT), Brahima Sanou; GSR-15 Chair
Lin Mombo; and Gabon’s Minister for Digital Economy and Posts, Pastor Ngoua
Nneme.
Minister Ngoua Nneme said: “Today, telecommunications/ICT is a strategic
sector in the creation and distribution of national wealth, and contributes
significantly to the improvement of the main macroeconomic indicators and the
development of socio-economic activity in Gabon. The ambition of the Gabonese
government is to ensure that ICTs not only contribute to the growth of GDP, but
are accessible, available and affordable. I assure you that the Gabonese
Republic under the leadership of President Ali Bongo Ondimba will take the
necessary steps to implement the outcomes of your work. I would also like to
reaffirm the commitment and will of my government to support and assist the ITU
in its mission to connect the world and transform Africa.”
BDT Director Brahima Sanou emphasized the role that ITU can play in fostering
innovation. “In today’s increasingly globalized ICT markets, regulators and
policy makers have a need to get together to find common ground and identify
innovative ways of working together. Innovation is becoming central to the
policy frameworks that will create the right enabling environment to drive
growth – and ITU serves as the ideal neutral platform for those discussions.”
In his closing address to delegates, Mr Mombo said: “By hosting this meeting,
Gabon has shown its commitment to international cooperation in working towards
an inclusive information society in the world in general, and in Africa in
particular. I would like to express our satisfaction with regard to the
excellent results which we have reached after three intensive days of work. I do
not doubt for a moment that these results will benefit all actors in the ICT
sector. I am particularly delighted with the relevance and quality of the
Best-Practice Guidelines that we have just adopted. They respond to the current
needs of ICT development in bridging the digital divide.”
This year’s GSR programme featured a special information session for
regulators and industry on the upcoming
World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-15), an important
international treaty-making conference which will be hosted by ITU in Geneva
from 2-27 November, 2015. The session was led by François Rancy, Director of
ITU’s Radiocommunication Bureau.
A second information session illustrated how reliable measurement and data
are key to better ICT policy making and encouraged regulators to be active
participants in ITU’s World Telecommunication Indicators Symposium, which will
be held in Hiroshima, Japan from 30 November - 2 December 2015.
As always, this year’s GSR culminated in a series of regulatory
Best Practice Guidelines. Outputs from the meeting will also be
incorporated into ITU’s annual regulatory report,
Trends in
Telecommunication Reform.
The next Global Symposium for Regulators, GSR-16, will be held in Sharm
el-Sheik, Egypt. GSR-17 will be held in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.
Watch the GSR-15 Highlights video
here and other GSR-15 videos
here.
Download GSR-15 photos
here.
The full programme of the GSR-15 symposium is available
here.
A series of Discussion Papers on the key issues discussed at
this year’s GSR is available
here.
Biographies of GSR-15 speakers are available
here.
Background information, including speeches of the high-level
participants and key global statistics on broadband, are available on the GSR-15
Newsroom at
http://www.itu.int/en/newsroom/gsr-15/Pages/default.aspx.
Follow the event on Twitter at: #GSR15.
For more information, visit the
GSR-15 home page or contact:
ITU:
Sarah Parkes
Chief, Media Relations and Public Information
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Monica Albertini
Communication Officer, BDT
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ARCEP:
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David Ella Mintsa Head of Communications
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Victor Missanda
Communication Officer |
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