Page 9 - SAMENA Trends - May-June 2023

SAMENA COUNCIL ACTIVITY SAMENA TRENDS

Incentives to support access, adoption and use
Policy makers and regulators are encouraged to implement regulatory and financial incentives to support access, adoption and use to bring the
benefits of meaningful connectivity to everyone, everywhere.

• Demand-side interventions: Policy makers and regulators could introduce demand-side interventions as part of universal service policies or
other mechanisms (partnerships between public, private and non-governmental actors) to promote literacy and advanced digital skills and foster
the development and adoption of relevant and local content and solutions to enhance local livelihood and business opportunities. • Digital skills
and educational programmes: Policy makers and regulators can play an important role in facilitating educational and a wide range of digital skill
programmes in schools especially for young generation as well as, training for the elderly, including rural, unserved and underserved areas, and
populations in vulnerable situations to fully harness opportunities brought about by digital transformation. • Lowering barriers to access digital
devices and equipment: Policy makers and regulators could consider measures to encourage and facilitate cost reduction in the manufacturing,
purchase and importation of hardware equipment and devices to achieve universal service goals, in particular for open-source hardware, and for
green technologies. • Incentives for digital services and device adoption: Policy makers and regulators could consider introducing incentives for the
provision of affordable digital services and devices at special rates for local communities and lowincome population.

Cross-sector digital policy and regulatory principles
Policy makers and regulators each play key and complementary roles in their autonomy by engaging with all stakeholders to identify the changes
and levers that are needed to take national, regional and global digital transformation readiness to the next level. Regulatory coordination in the
digital landscape: The coherence and mutual reinforcement of rules and the proactive coordination between adjacent regulatory regimes is key to a
resilient, consistent and enabling digital policy and regulatory environment. Policy makers and regulators could reinforce legal and institutional
frameworks for collaboration that outline the processes, mechanisms and tools to be used across sectors and parts of government. • Inclusive
decision-making cycles: Policy makers and regulators should foster regular dialogue across government authorities, sectors and stakeholder groups
to ensure that stakeholders are engaged on key developments in digital markets while identifying areas of concern and shaping targeted policy
alternatives, for example through public consultations, stakeholder forums or collaboration networks and platforms, to ensure that all people have
access and benefit from the digital transformation. • Data and benchmarks: Regulators need the resources and capacity to collect relevant data to
support their decisions in an open and transparent manner and to establish metrics and benchmarks to measure regulatory compliance and progress
towards achieving connectivity targets and policy goals. This evidence collected helps inform and more appropriately target regulatory interventions,
thus enhancing the effectiveness of regulation. • Research and foresight capacity: Regulators increasingly need internal research capacity and
resources to explore and anticipate market trends, regulatory challenges, and the impact of new technologies on markets and consumers. Strategic
research and foresight are important to inform regulatory discussions and decisions in a timely and systematic manner, enabling proactive,
proportionate, and targeted regulatory action. • Alignment with international standards: Policy makers and regulators can consider aligning their
policies, regulations and national standards with relevant international standards and guidelines to promote, where appropriate and to the extent
possible, the harmonization of regulatory regimes in key areas enabling digital transformation to enable coordinated response to cross-border
issues. 5-8 June 2023 | Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt 4 www.itu.int/gsr23 • Regional and international collaboration and representation: Regulators should
continue working together leveraging regulatory association (RA) networks at regional and international level to accelerate digital transformation for
a sustainable digital future including, where appropriate, through developing common approaches to collaborative digital policy and regulation
across economic sectors and across borders.

9 MAY-JUNE 2023