About

The Digital Regulation Platform is the result of ongoing collaboration between the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Bank which started in 2000.

Structured by thematic areas, the Digital Regulation Platform aims to provide practical guidance and best practice for policymakers and regulators across the globe concerned with harnessing the benefits of the digital economy and society for their citizens and firms. The content provides an update on the basics of ICT regulation in light of the digital transformation sweeping across sectors and also includes new regulatory aspects and tools for ICT regulators to consider when making regulatory decisions.  The Platform also incorporates the 2020 Digital Regulation Handbook, originally published as the Telecommunication Regulation Handbook, and now updated to mark the 20^th anniversary of the publication and provides more detailed guidance and case studies of best practice in regulation of the digital economy.

The thematic sections of the platform will be periodically updated and improved. As they are used by regulators and policymakers, new materials and case studies will emerge and these will be used to further enrich this important set of tools. The objective is to provide regulators, operators, service and applications providers, policymakers, sector experts, and the general public with the latest information on developments on regulation strategies, best practices, and case studies.

The Digital Regulation Platform content has been prepared by a team of authors directed by the International Telecommunication Union (Nancy Sundberg, Youlia Lozanova, and Sofie Maddens, ITU Regulatory and Market Environment Division, under the overall coordination of Eun-Ju Kim, Chief a.i. Digital Knowledge Hub Department, ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT)) and the World Bank (Tim Kelly, Roku Fukui, and Ida S. Mboob of the Digital Development Global Practice) under the leadership of Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU, and Boutheina Guermazi, Director Digital Development, World Bank Group.

Authors

The content of the platform was developed by the following authors:

• Regulatory governance and independence: Janet Hernandez, President, and Kari Ballot-Lena, Telecommunications Management Group
  • A case for ICT regulatory sandbox: Thabisa Faye, former Director, Pygma Consulting
  • National digital transformation strategy – mapping the digital journey: Vaiva Maciule, Senior ICT Expert
• Competition and economics: David Rogerson, Director, Incyte Consulting
• Access for all: Janet Hernandez, President, and Daniel Leza, Telecommunications Management Group
• Consumer affairs: Claire Milne, Partner, Antelope Consulting
• Data protection and trust: Ian Walden, Professor of Information and Communications Law and Director of the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary, University of London
  • Enhancing the protection and cyber-resilience of critical information infrastrcture: Óscar Noé Ávila Molina, Cybernoark Consulting
• Spectrum management:
  Geraldo Neto, Senior Technical and Policy Adviser, Telecommunications Management Group.
• Contribution from the ITU-R Study Group 1, Radiocommunication Sector of the ITU
• Emerging technologies: Regulatory responses to evolving technologies, Christoph Stork, Partner, Research ICT Solutions
• Technical regulation:
  • Quality of service: Robert Milne, Partner, Antelope Consulting
  • Numbering: Director, Phil Rushton, Director, Rushton Communications Consulting Ltd, with contributions from Robert Milne
  • NGSOs: Laurent Vieira de Mello, Founder and CEO of Strascend
• Emergency communications: Juan Roldan, President of Luxon Consulting Group, LLC, with contributions from Robert Milne

The initial content of the Handbook and Platform (2020) was edited by Colin Blackman, Director, Camford Associates.

The content of the Digital Regulation Handbook and Platform benefits from generous funding from the Digital Development Partnership (DDP), and the Communications, Space & Technology Commission of Saudi Arabia.