“Pay tribute to the pioneers of communication who make it possible for us to talk to each other across great distances, by phone, Zoom, text, and more”

World Telecommunications Day will be commemorated tomorrow the 17th of May 2022.

Therefore this week we will take a look at importance of telecommunications, its history, benefits as well as disadvantages.

World Telecommunications Day celebrates the constant evolution of one of the most important factors of our lives: communication. The main goal of World Telecommunications Day (WTD) is to highlight the importance of communication and how information travels across the world. It also aims to increase awareness of how crucial communication is in our lives, and stimulate the development of technologies in the field.

The World Telecommunications Day is in tight connections with the International Telegraph Union (ITU), the committee formed in 1865 to support the emerging communication methods of the time. ITU was present throughout all the great breakthroughs in communication – the invention of the telephone in 1876, the launch of the first satellite in 1957, and, ultimately, the birth of the Internet in the 1960s.

Even though The International Telegraph Union has since changed its name to International Telecommunications Union, it still remains the most important entity in the field of communications, thus remaining in the spotlight at World Telecommunications Day.

The purpose of World Telecommunications Day is to help increase awareness of the possibilities that technology brings. The focus is on the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT). The day is commemorated to look at the different benefits ICT has had on economies and societies, as well as looking for ways to keep bridging the digital divide.

Some interesting facts about telecommunications

Before we delve deeper into the history of this date, let’s take a look at some fascinating telecommunications facts that are assured to surprise you…

The first text message that was ever sent was by Neil Papworth. It was a festive one as well, stating “Merry Christmas”

The first-ever VoIP, Voice over Internet Protocol, was made in December 1974

The most common use of mobile phones is to check the time

Telephone wires have been ranked based on how tasty mice find them; the tastier the telephone wire, the less likely it was used

The Nokia tone for getting an SMS text message is actually Morse code for SMS

It took around one year to connect the first phone line between San Francisco and New York

The telephone is the most profitable invention in the history of the United States

History of World Telecommunications Day

World Telecommunications Day has been celebrated every year since the 17th of May in 1969. This date has been chosen because it is the same date as when the International Telegraph Union was founded. This happened when the first International Telegraph Convention was signed in Paris on the 17th of May 1865. The event was formally instituted in 1973 in Malaga-Torremolinos, Spain, at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference. Every year, a topical theme is selected, and there are events that occur around the globe in order to celebrate World Telecommunications Day.