Today is the World Telecommunication Day!
World Telecommunication Day has been celebrated annually on 17 May since 1969, marking the founding of 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.
In November 2006, the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya, Turkey, decided to celebrate 17 May as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. The updated Resolution 68 invites Member States and Sector Members to celebrate the day annually by organizing appropriate national programmes with a view to:
- stimulating reflection and exchanges of ideas on the theme adopted by the Council
- debating the various aspects of the theme with all partners in society
- formulating a report reflecting national discussions on the issues underlying the theme, to be fed back to ITU and the rest of its membership