APTN Celebrates World Telecoms Day

APTN Celebrates World Telecoms Day

The Association of Telecommunications and Information Technology Professionals and Practitioners in Nigeria (APTN), last week in Abuja, joined their professional colleagues across the world to celebrate the World Telecommunications and Information Society Day (WTISD), where they highlighted the importance of communication and how information technology travels across the world. It also aimed at increasing the awareness of how crucial communication is in our lives, and stimulate the development of technologies in the world today.

Every year on 17 May, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) membership around the world, celebrates World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, a day to mark the founding of ITU over 152 years ago.

Speaking on this year’s theme: “Bridging The Standardization Gap”, the National President of ATPN, Adede John Williams, said: “I want to use this opportunity to say that the main purpose of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is been celebrated worldwide, is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) platform can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide in every nation.

ITU standards help accelerate ICTs for all Sustainable Development Goals, hence, the insight brought on by advanced analysis can strongly complement the evidence-based nature of decision-making that can be leveraged at local, national, regional and international levels to drive success of standardization towards attaining the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030.

“The theme for WTISD-19 is in line with ITU’s work highlighting the technological developments that have facilitated the emergence of Digital Standardization, developing standards related to ICT and identifying sources and uses of BigData, including use of Digital Technologies for developing and monitoring improvements in information societies.”

World Information Society Day promotes people’s awareness of the power of information and communication to build societies in which they can create, access, use and share information and knowledge to achieve their full potential. Organizations such as UNESCO actively take part in the day by inviting people to engage in various activities to promote campaigns centred on this event.

According to Williams, prior to World Information Society Day, World Telecommunication Day, which was first held in 1969, was celebrated on May 17 by people and organizations such as ITU. Many now refer to this day as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, taking into account the UN’s observance of World Information Society Day. The rationale of this observance is to help raise consciousness of the possibilities that the internet and other information and communication technologies could bring to societies and economies, as well as ways to bridge the digital divide, Williams said.

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