About World Telecommunication and Information Society Day

World Telecommunication Day has been celebrated annually on 17 May since 1969, marking the founding of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865.

It was instituted by the Plenipotentiary Conference in Malaga-Torremolinos in 1973 as Resolution 46.

Established in 1865 to manage the first international telegraph networks, the ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs). Over the years, the union’s mandate has expanded to cater for the advancement in information and communications technology. First to include the invention of voice telephony, then the development of radio communications, the launch of the first communications satellites, and most recently, the ever evolving telecommunications based information age.

In November 2005, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) called upon the UN General Assembly to declare 17 May as World Information

Society Day to focus on the importance of ICT and the wide range of issues related to the Information by WSIS. The General Assembly adopted this proposal in March 2006 In November 2006, the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya, Turkey, decided to celebrate both events on 17 May as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.

The objectives of the day are to stimulate reflection and exchanges of ideas on the theme adopted by the Council, debate the various aspects of the theme with all partners in society, formulate a report reflecting national discussions on the issues underlying the theme, to be fed back to ITU and the rest of its membership. Botswana has commemorating WTIS day since issuance of mobile telecommunications in 1998. On the day stakeholders not only sensitize citizens about the social impact of the Internet and other new technologies but donate

e quipment, gadgets, and services to communities to bridge the digital divide guided by the theme issued by the ITU every year.