By Jonathan Mbiriyamveka
ABUJA – Africa’s telecommunications regulators are operating with 20th-century tools to govern a 21st-century digital economy—and the cracks are showing, according to a bold proposal tabled by Zimbabwe at the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) Plenipotentiary Conference in Abuja.
The proposal, presented by POTRAZ Director General Dr Gift Machengete, warns that “the accelerating convergence of artificial intelligence, data governance, cybersecurity, digital platforms, and cross-border communications services” is “rapidly exposing the limits of fragmented national regulatory models.”
The diagnosis comes at a critical juncture. African communications markets are expanding faster than ever—mobile contributions to Africa’s economy are projected to reach US$270 billion by 2030.
Yet regulation remains largely national in scope, creating a patchwork of rules that digital services—which by their nature do not respect borders—must navigate.
Dr Machengete’s proposal seeks to address this gap by establishing an ATU Working Group on Regulatory Intelligence to develop common guidelines and institutionalise regulatory collaboration across Africa.
The initiative would create a permanent platform where regulators could “regularly share ideas, exchange best practices, and work together to advance regulatory excellence across the continent.”
The timing aligns with broader continental efforts to harmonise digital governance. At the 2026 ITU Regional Development Forum in Victoria Falls, African leaders underscored the need for “equal policy coordination” and “better prepared projects” as fundamental to the continent’s digital ambitions.
“ATU Secretary General John Omo warned that “our countries cannot be present only as users of systems designed elsewhere, governed elsewhere, and financed elsewhere”.
Dr Machengete explicitly addressed the danger of regulatory fragmentation in an era of rapid technological change.
He raised the prospect of AI systems that lack African languages, values and cultural perspectives—a future where Africa becomes invisible in the knowledge economy because its regulators failed to act in time.
“A continent whose languages and values are absent from Artificial Intelligence systems risks becoming invisible in the future knowledge economy,” he warned.
The proposal draws a clear distinction between global regulatory dialogue—such as that at the ITU’s Global Symposium for Regulators—and Africa’s own policy imperatives.
Dr Machengete argued that Africa requires frameworks calibrated to its market structures, investment priorities, and digital development trajectory, rather than imported models designed elsewhere.
The regulatory intelligence framework would complement existing continental initiatives, including the Africa Digital Policy Tracker launched by the ATU and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in December 2024, which aims to monitor progress on digital economy policies across borders.
It also builds on Zimbabwe’s own domestic experience with regulatory evolution. The country has been deepening its capacity to anticipate technological disruption, most recently through the approval of its National Artificial Intelligence Strategy for 2026-2030 and ongoing efforts to harmonise data governance frameworks.
The proposal has been folded into the conference’s wider deliberations on regional cooperation, placing regulatory intelligence alongside spectrum management and digital infrastructure as an emerging pillar of Africa’s digital transformation agenda.
If adopted, the framework would mark a decisive shift from reactive, nationally bounded regulation toward proactive, continentally coordinated governance—one capable of matching the scale and speed of Africa’s digital economy.
About Author
