A new report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) reveals that the information and communication technology (ICT) regulatory frameworks in Africa have evolved the most over the past ten years.

The 2020 Global ICT Regulatory Outlook, which benchmarks regulatory frameworks across 193 countries worldwide, shows that Africa’s score has kept pace with the rise in world averages, and has even exceeded the averages of the Arab States, Asia-Pacific and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

By 2018, only two African nations remained in the first generation of regulation (G1) category.

The economies monitored by the ITU are classified in different generations of regulation from G1 to G4, which showcase and compare progress within the same country and in different countries over a period of time.

Countries with a tracker score below 40 are considered to belong to the first generation of regulation, those with a score between 40 and 69 are in the second generation (G2) category, those between 70 and 84 are deemed to be in the third generation (G3) and a score above 85 means the country is in the fourth generation (G4) category.

Overall, the tracker comprises 50 indicators grouped into four pillars, namely the regulatory authority, focusing on the functioning of specific regulators; regulatory mandates and who regulates what; the regulatory regime; and the level of competition in the ICT sector’s main market segments.

“The regulation generations – G1, G2, G3, G4 and [the more recent addition, the collaborative level] G5 – are now well established as authoritative tools to understand how ICT regulation has evolved worldwide, how it is intimately enmeshed with market development and how it can be deployed to impact the growth and opening out of those markets to the digital economy,” the report says.

The report shows that Africa’s regulatory frameworks have evolved the most over the past ten years, with the number of G3 countries having increased steadily from 5 to 52 within a decade.

Ghana, Malawi, Uganda, Botswana and Tanzania are now listed in the G4 category, while Kenya is leading the way in the G5 regulatory category.

Overall, the report shows that 16 countries out of 193 now have collaborative, holistic, forward-looking regulatory frameworks in place to enable digital transformation across their economies.

Nine out of every ten countries are still regulating ICTs as a separate economic sector, the report points out.

The report highlights that more than half the world’s population is concentrated in G2 and G3 category countries, with 25% of countries remaining in the G3 category, showing progress in terms of stronger policy and regulation but an inability to unlock the full potential of ICT markets as yet.

About 40% of countries are in the G1 or G2 categories, which means they miss development opportunities and are increasingly adrift from global digitalisation and economic transformation, the ITU warns.

However, over the past ten years, G4 has become the established standard for every ICT regulator, with more than 50 countries listed in this category.

Europe ranks first among the regions, boasting ten of the 16 global G5 champions and 28 countries in the G4 category.

The six countries outside Europe now joining the G5 category include Brazil, Canada, Kenya, Morocco, Japan and Singapore.

“While the yearly average scores of Europe have consistently been the highest since 2007, the gap between European yearly average scores and world averages has greatly narrowed from 45% in 2007 to 21% in 2018,” the ITU says.

In the Americas, over a third of countries have now been placed in the highest categories, the G4 and G5 generations of regulation, increasing the average score more than all other regions during the period from 2007 to 2018, with 13 countries now having attained G4 status.

Meanwhile, the Arab States, which have slowly progressed up the so-called generation ladder, are expected to accelerate progression over the next two years, with major reforms expected in some States.

“Major movement in the region has come through G2 countries progressing to the G3 category. Further, three States are now classified as G4 countries and one Arab country has reached G5 collaborative regulation category,” the ITU explains.

“Asia-Pacific presents a very diverse range of countries in terms of regulatory maturity,” the report continues, noting that, across the region, only four countries have attained G4 status, no countries have succeeded in attaining G4 status since 2012 and two countries are in the G5 category.