Union minister of communications and development for northeastern region, in a virtual address at the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR) 2025 being hosted in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, articulated a bold call to action for the global regulatory community: to evolve from gatekeepers into builders of inclusive digital ecosystems. The minister positioned India as a global model of regulatory transformation anchored in vision, trust, and inclusive innovation.
GSR is an annual flagship event organised by the ITU, where heads of national information and communication technology (ICT) regulatory authorities, policymakers, industry leaders, and digital experts from over 190 countries meet to discuss critical regulatory challenges in the telecommunication and ICT sectors.
This year, the 25th edition of GSR-25 being hosted by the Saudi Arabia, in collaboration with the ITU, from August 31, 2025 to September 3, 2025 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is based on theme “Regulation for sustainable digital development”.
Delivering his address to a distinguished global audience, the minister likened GSR as a beacon of international cooperation, and described it as a space “where wisdom embraces innovation, and where together we chart the course of our shared digital destiny.” The minister highlighted that “This year’s theme, Regulation for Sustainable Digital Development, resonates with urgency and hope.”
Further, responding to the session’s core question, the minister outlined three key dimensions that define a regulator’s new role as a digital ecosystem builder. First, regulators must move from reactive rule-setting to proactive ecosystem design. This includes enabling frameworks for public digital infrastructure and interoperable platforms. Second, they must catalyse innovation by creating regulatory sandboxes, offering a safe space to test new ideas without compromising user safety or market stability. And, third, regulators must embed trust at the heart of the digital economy, through citizen-centric policies, grievance redressal mechanisms, and strong data protection standards.
India’s experience was offered as an example of this shift in action. The minister highlighted the transformative impact of India’s 5G rollout, achieving 99.9 per cent district coverage across 776 districts, connecting over 300 million users, and powering the world’s highest per capita data usage.
Policy reform has played a central role in this progress. The Telecommunications Act, 2023, and Telecom Cybersecurity Rules, 2024, replaced colonial-era legacies with a legal architecture fit for the AI and quantum age. The Digital Bharat Nidhi, India’s new digital universal service fund, exemplifies a model for public-private partnership that ensures last-mile connectivity and digital equity.
Furthermore, he pointed to flagship Indian initiatives, Aadhaar, Jan Dhan Yojana, PM-WANI, BharatNet, and India Post, as demonstrations of how regulation can seed and scale digital public infrastructure. These, he said, are not just programs but “living arteries of empowerment,” connecting citizens with dignity and opportunity.
The minister called for global efforts to harmonise spectrum bands, rationalise costs, and ensure disaster-resilient green networks. He proposed the development of a digital consumer charter as a global benchmark to ensure fairness, transparency, and trust in the digital domain.
Moreover, India believes that artificial intelligence (AI) must be developed through a balanced regulatory approach one that supports innovation while ensuring safety, ethics, and inclusion. The goal is to establish a regulatory framework that is open, flexible, and oriented towards the public good. As the minister emphasised, India does not seek to impose restrictive rules that hinder innovation, but equally, it cannot ignore the potential risks of AI misuse. To this end, India launched the IndiaAI Mission in 2024 with a budget of Rs 103.71 billion (USD 1.2 billion).
Reflecting on the evolving regulatory landscape, the minister said that regulation is no longer about issuing licenses or enforcing penalties, it is about laying down vision, building trust, and shaping future-ready societies. Moreover, minister summed up his vision with the remarked, “If we succeed, we will not merely connect people, we will empower them. We will not just build networks, we will build nations.”
