Broadband internet is the single most disruptive development for extant regulatory fiat. Now different products and services are pushed down one pipe as digital data. If you’re not tone deaf, here writ large, is the message, its all about data. For our regulators to remain relevant, this development demands a pivot in regulatory approaches. Michelle juxtaposed two words that spells out the distance of travel for regulators; regulation may not not now be essential but crucial. Just take the ordinary meaning of those words and you get it.

Overall, the philosophical approach to regulation in this region has largely been light touch and moral suasion. Now, there is data. And therein lies the rub. It is crucial that regulators pivot to regulatory approaches that favour data. And they must do so in a era largely marked by disruptive forces forked at the application layer and in an era where the corpus of rules now require joint approaches with other regulators like those set up to oversee data privacy and information governance.Everyone talks of innovation. And telecoms regulators must adjust to handle and be attuned to innovation wrought by technology and market innovation driven largely by data companies and Web 3.0 tools outside their purview..

So what should be the responses you ask? Well, they have to begin to learn to collaborate with other sector regulators for pro-innovation and more data-driven decision-making in an environment gripped by this state of flux. The collaborative model driven by uncertainty in a green field where flexibility, lack of knowledge and demand for agility are key success factors recommend sandboxing. Get with others and create the regulatory sandboxes where mixing technology and processes drive experiential learning that will crucially, foster more innovation and growth and use. More public goods in the public interest.