Regulators and governments in MEA have to be more supportive on 5G regulations

This Insider Report  provides an executive-level overview of current and future 5G spectrum allocations, regulatory developments, and policy initiatives that are supporting 5G deployments and ecosystem development in the region.

5G has become an integral part of several countries’ economic development and competitive strategies in Africa and the Middle East (AME). This report analyzes the key regulatory and policy drivers supporting 5G rollouts and ecosystem development in AME. It also provides regulators, telcos and vendors with guidance on the best practices related to these themes, to support 5G development and help unlock the economic benefits of 5G.

The report also reviews examples of key impediments to 5G development in the region, ranging from use cases maturity to vendor constraints and provides best practices on how to address these. It also provides a summary of several AME countries’ 5G auctions, national 5G strategies and related policy initiatives.

The three AME country case studies deep dive into the main 5G roadmaps, regulations, policies, and national strategies that the countries have adopted to support 5G services and rollouts. The report then concludes with key findings and recommendations into the establishment of a supportive and investment-friendly regulatory environment for 5G and the initiatives that countries can adopt to foster 5G development.

A summary overview of the 5G spectrum availability in Africa and the Middle East (AME) deep dives into the main policies and regulations that are being harnessed by regulators and governments to boost the 5G ecosystem’s development and gives examples of the impediments to the technology’s development.

The report provides the status of the 5G spectrum auctions and of their 5G national strategies for six countries in the region.

In addition, three country case studies examine how regulators and governments have adopted policies and regulations to establish an investment-friendly and supportive ecosystem for 5G development – including timely spectrum availability, adopting national 5G strategies, streamlining planning regulations to facilitate 5G rollouts, incentivizing private investment, and supporting the vertical industries around 5G use cases development.

The last section of the report provides a summary of key findings and recommendations for regulators, governments, and telcos globally on establishing supportive 5G regulatory and investment ecosystems.

Some of the findings of the report

• 5G is still emerging in Africa and the Middle East. Governments and regulators are playing a key role in pushing the techology’s rollout with the aim of supporting access to higher speed broadband.
• Market regulations and policies play a significant role in establishing a thriving 5G ecosystem. Creating a favourable regulatory environment for 5G includes ensuring that there is sufficient spectrum resources in 5G-usable frequency bands on a timely manner, and at a reasonable cost.
• Several countries – e.g. Kuwait, KSA, and the UAE – have moved to allocate large spectrum blocks and have defined an agenda for releasing additional spectrum for 5G
• Regulators and governments in AME need to release more supportive 5G regulations and policies – e.g. releasing adequate 5G spectrum, supporting network sharing, streamlining planning regulations, as well as lowering the barriers to 5G adoption by consumers, enterprises and the vertical industries.