The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is consulting until 21 November 2025 on a draft amendment to the universal service and access obligations currently applicable to Telkom, the country’s incumbent telecom operator. The proposal aims to update Telkom’s legacy licence conditions by providing fast broadband internet connectivity at 171 multi-purpose government facilities providing citizens’ access to digital public services across the country. This Global Trends flash outlines ICASA’s rationale in its review of Telkom’s obligations and provides an overview of South Africa’s universal service regime. Several other African countries are transitioning their respective universal service regimes from basic telephony to broadband internet connectivity.

Australia has issued regulatory guidance to enforce age verification requirements for social media platforms. The age limits, as originally planned, are enforceable from 10 December 2025. This Global Trends Flash details the key stages of Australia’s regulatory efforts in this area, from legislation to consultations to finalising the applicable regulatory guidance. Additionally, the report puts the age verification measures in a global context.

The European Commission is consulting until 26 November 2025 on potential new legislation, a Quantum Act. The Act would establish at EU level a coherent governance framework for quantum research, strengthen industrial capacity through coordinated investment tools, and create mechanisms for supply-chain resilience. This Global Trends flash analyses key aspects of the proposal and presents recent quantum policy developments from around the world.

A partnership of four Canadian federal regulators published a report that examines the challenges and opportunities to Canada’s society that arise from AI-generated media, also known as synthetic media. The report includes several generalised goals the regulators would like to see addressed, but no specific regulatory measures emerged from the document. This Global Trends flash looks at the purpose and content of the report. It also highlights the implications of its findings for both Canadian and global policy.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is consulting on possible spectrum bands and amounts, as well as licensing terms and conditions for the next multi-band spectrum auction, expected in the country in 2026. The spectrum under consideration regards multiple frequencies not assigned in former spectrum auctions in low, mid and high frequency bands. In its consultation TRAI also discusses possible licensing options for the upper 6 GHz band in India, this Global Trends flash also highlights.

Over the past five years, China has been building a comprehensive framework to regulate online platforms’ activities targeting minors, this Global Trends flash highlights. China’s framework consists of several primary laws and specified regulations. Authorities in China are finalizing some regulatory steps to ensure the effective implementation of the framework. In 2H 2025 the Cyberspace Administration of China carried out two relevant consultations in that regard. The first would classify the types of content considered to be harmful to the physical or mental health of minors. The second would set a methodology for the identification of the online platforms considered to pose a high risk to minors.