Enea telecom software for Governments & Regulators

Use case for: Traffic management

Data Traffic Oversight

Data Traffic Sovereignty establishes that the rules governing digital access are subject to the laws and regulations of a nation or group of nations. These democratically formulated rules define how data may be accessed to and from the internet and have direct implications for network operations and service delivery. Regulators are responsible not only for setting these rules, but also for consulting stakeholders, overseeing compliance, and safeguarding the overall digital health of the nation.

The following sections examine selected use cases that illustrate regulatory oversight from a data traffic management perspective.

Use Cases for Regulators

The core use cases for regulators center on understanding internet traffic flows and ensuring that applicable rules can be clearly defined and practically enforced. Separate from lawful intercept, examples of such regulatory controls include:

Data traffic filtering, for example restricting access to gambling or cryptocurrency trading sites
VPN usage restrictions
Voice and video calling limitations
Digital taxation analysis, based on traffic patterns and service usage
Telecom resilience analysis, including visibility into traffic volumes and destinations to support anomaly detection

These rules are defined within the local jurisdiction. However, the ability to understand and monitor traffic flows in a rapidly evolving internet environment is critical to both effective rule definition and enforcement. This is increasingly challenging, as the vast majority of internet traffic is encrypted (typically over 95%) and cannot be decrypted.

This regulatory domain is distinct from data sovereignty, which concerns how data captured at the individual or subscriber level must remain subject to jurisdiction-specific regulations, such as the EU’s GDPR.

Traffic Reporting

Traffic reporting is a core capability for understanding the popularity and large-scale consumption of internet data across different access types, such as mobile and fixed-line networks. This visibility is central to assessing the digital health of a nation and identifying patterns of usage.

It provides the fundamental building block for long-term trend analysis, while also establishing a baseline against which anomalies can be detected. Traffic reporting is used for both cyber defence and longer-term behavioral analysis of internet consumption, segmented by factors such as location (home versus mobile), device type, and population demographics.

As internet and communications access are defined as essential services and form part of national critical infrastructure, regulatory oversight of data consumption and traffic flows is a foundational requirement. Enea Traffic Management software provides this reporting capability at scale, enabling regulators and operators to gain actionable insight while supporting national resilience objectives.

Traffic Type Filtering

In many jurisdictions, certain types of data traffic are designated as inappropriate for specific audiences. As a result, traffic is classified and, where necessary, blocked based on the primary content or purpose of the application or website involved. Examples of such content types include:

Online gambling
Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) designated sites
VPN access

Anomaly Detection

Data access can be a potential source of threats to telecom services and users in a region. These threats may include volumetric attacks, data exfiltration, or access to known criminal websites or resources. Behavioural analysis combined with real-time response can significantly enhance network resilience, as attacks may be both sudden and transient.

Early anomaly detection and alerting are essential for understanding both macro-level consumption patterns and potential cybersecurity incidents. Additional traffic management measures can then be applied to limit the impact of real-time threats, while allowing legitimate traffic to continue uninterrupted.

Data & Services

Regulatory oversight may also extend to specific services within an application, such as voice calls or streaming. These services can be subject to filtering or additional usage-based taxation applied to the telecom provider. In such cases, oversight is required to verify the type of consumption, ensuring that rules are accurately and appropriately enforced.

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