Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR) 2021
Regulatory Associations (RA) Meeting
Opening Remarks
Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director
ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau
Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening everyone. It's a pleasure to join you today for this Regulatory Associations Meeting.
Firstly, I would like to thank Ms Mphatso Linzie, Executive Secretary, Communications Regulators' Association of Southern Africa (CRASA), for accepting to be the Chair of the Regulatory Associations' (RA) Meeting. I also want to convey my appreciation to all participants for joining us for this meeting.
During our meeting last year, we discussed the important role of Regional and International Associations, and regional collaboration in a post-COVID World to address the challenges of ''Building Back Better.''
As the world struggles to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of ICTs in providing solutions has become even more clear. Digital technologies have proven to be critical tools for the continuity of our daily lives, the growth of our economies, and simply our ability to connect with each other.
Discussions over the past few months during the GSR Regional Regulatory Roundtables have shown that collaboration is key – collaboration at national, but also at regional and international levels.
In this regard, I was so pleased to observe the very positive participation of the Regulatory Associations in these Regional Regulatory Roundtables. I would like to express my gratitude to you for your active engagement and for the solutions you put forward.
The COVID crisis has also highlighted the importance of the availability of ICT infrastructure in rural and isolated areas. Unfortunately, many people in these areas remain unconnected due to a lack of investment in ICT infrastructure. They are thereby denied from essential digital services that ride on this infrastructure.
To address this issue, the ITU interactive world transmission maps come useful to member states, regulators, the private sector and ICT stakeholders in their efforts towards infrastructure mapping systems that could identify ICT infrastructure availability to leverage infrastructure sharing strategies, and reduce the cost of infrastructure deployment and service provision.
The theme for this 2021 edition of the GSR is accelerating inclusive connectivity, access and use. As we ride the wave of digital transformation, dialogue amongst regulators at the international, inter-regional and inter-governmental levels will be important, and necessary, to ensure that our policy and regulatory frameworks can adapt and respond to new and emerging digital challenges.
That is why I believe that your role as Regional Regulatory Associations is vital in bringing decision-makers together and ensuring the digital world of the future is one that entails ''broadband for all.'' I count on your expertise and your commitment to help drive the development and promotion of Broadband mapping tools, to foster investment and competition for inclusive and sustainable connectivity among your own NRA members.
The potential for massive gains from learning from other should not be underestimated. The collaborative spirit shown during our annual gathering of Regulatory Associations, is the right way forward.
As we approach the World Telecommunication Development Conference , I would also encourage your participation in the preparations through the available channels, so that we can have the collective voice of all regions and generate the impact we all want to see in our connectivity agenda.
Thank you very much for your attention.
