Global ICT regulatory meeting highlights key role of innovation in driving ICT development

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 information communication technology (ICT) goods and services, according to delegates at ITU’s Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR-15), which was held 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 in 215 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 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.