Telecommunications regulators from around the world endorsed guidelines to help them build digital ecosystems for essential national services like healthcare, education and finance at the Global Symposium for Regulators 2025 (GSR-25) today in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The GSR-25 Best Practice Guidelines , issued during the closing of the three-day event, outline key tools and frameworks to drive regulatory innovation and build sustainable information and communication technology ecosystems, ensuring that digital societies and economies deliver prosperity for all.
The new guidelines reinforce the need to foster innovation, adapt capacity, and strengthen cooperation to support the work of regulators.
"GSR has spent 25 years lighting the path from dial-up to digital society," said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. "With 2.6 billion people remaining unconnected, regulators are the bridge to a future where everyone, everywhere, can thrive online."
In addition to endorsing the new guidelines, participants at GSR-25 shared insights on pressing regulatory issues in the digital landscape, including governance of artificial intelligence (AI), the growing space economy, and sustainable digital transformation.
"The Best Practice Guidelines represent a collective commitment to reimagine regulation for the digital era," said H.E. Eng. Haitham AlOhaly, Governor of the Communications, Space & Technology Commission of Saudi Arabia, and Chair of GSR-25. "By fostering collaboration and leveraging innovations in emerging technologies such as AI and big data, we can strengthen our economies, empower our societies, and ensure that digital transformation delivers for all."
Established by ITU in 2000, the GSR series serves as the world's regulatory compass on telecommunications, guiding countries toward harmonized, forward-looking regulation in the rapidly evolving digital era.
"For a quarter of a century, GSR has served as a cornerstone of global digital development amid waves of technological change," said Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau. "The Best Practice Guidelines are a chronicle of our digital age and of the central role GSR has played in supporting regulators throughout the years. I would like to thank the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for hosting GSR-25 as we celebrate 25 years of the Symposium."
GSR-25 brought together more than 1,200 participants, including Ministers and Heads of Regulatory Authorities.
At the event in Riyadh, ITU and CST also released Policy practices for e-waste management: Tools for a balanced and fair circular economy - Second Edition , a practical guide featuring an interactive toolkit covering all phases of e-waste regulation development.
Other activities at GSR-25 included:
- A meeting of the Digital Regulation Network (DRN) and Regional Regulatory Associations (RA), which explored how regulatory associations can achieve sustainable digital transformation through common approaches to collaborative digital policy, regulation and governance across economic sectors and across borders. Eng. Omar Abdulrahman Alrejraje, Deputy Governor of CST's Regulation and Competition Sector, and representative of the Arab Regulatory Network (AREGNET), served as RA-25 Chair.
- The Heads of Regulators Executive Roundtable, which focused on how regulators adapt and integrate innovation at the core of their mission and presented and adopted the Best Practice Guidelines.
- A meeting of the Industry Advisory Group on Development Issues and Private Sector Chief Regulatory Officers (IAGDI-CRO), resulting in an outcome statement based on industry priorities that was presented to regulators at the GSR-25 closing ceremony by Bocar Ba, Chairman of IAGDI-CRO and CEO of Samena Telecommunications Council.
GSR-25 also featured a special session of the Network of Women (NoW) in ITU's Telecommunication Development Sector to discuss inclusive regulation, artificial intelligence for green and trusted digital environments, and women's leadership in digital policy.
