The annual celebration of World Telecommunication Day on May 17, marking the founding of the International Telecommunication Union and the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention 1865.
In 2005, the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) invited the United Nations General Assembly to declare May 17th, as World Information Society Day.
In 2006, the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya, Turkey, decided that 17 May would now be World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
World Telecommunication and Information Society Day aims raising awareness of the opportunities offered by the Internet and information technologies to bridge the digital divide.
In Algeria, national events and programs are organized every May 17, to:
- Encourage research and ideas’ exchange on the topic adopted by the council;
- Organize a dialogue on the different facets of this subject with all concerned partners in society;
- Prepare a report illustrating national discussions on issues related to this subject and send it to the Union and all its members.
World Telecommunication and Information Society Day for 2023
World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2023 theme was: “Empowering least developed countries through information and communication technologies”.
Algeria celebrated this event with remarkable indicators at that time, including:
- An international network capacity of 7.8 terabit/s, compared to 1.5 terabit/s at the beginning of 2020;
- 5 million landline Internet subscriptions, after this indicator reached 3.5 million subscriptions in early 2020;
- 000 landline Internet subscribers using fibre optic technology, after reaching 72.000 subscribers in early 2020;
- 7 million Internet subscriptions on the mobile network, up from 36.9 million at the beginning of 2020.
World Telecommunication and Information Society Day for 2022
As part of World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2022 celebration, under the theme “Digital technologies for the elderly and healthy ageing”, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, organized a study day to raise awareness of the crucial role of information and communication technologies in supporting older people to live healthy in old age. This is particularly important given that the ageing of the world’s population will be a crucial demographic issue in the 21st century, according to the International Telecommunications Union.
It should be mentioned that this study day register significant participation from various ministerial sectors, such as the Ministry of Digitization and Statistics, the Ministry of Health, Population and Hospital Reform, the Ministry of National Solidarity, Family and Women Condition, as well as the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security. Representatives of civil society, experts, researchers and students also took part. Four interventions were presented by different sectors on the theme, under the following headings:
- Demographic change and its prospects in Algeria;
- Ways to encourage older people to use information and communication technologies;
- Aging and digital health ;
- Digitalization for the elderly in social security field.
On the other hand, the three workshops programmed on this occasion addressed the discussion of axes concerning the elderly in Algeria, and practical measures to be taken to integrate them into the information society and encourage them to use information and communication technologies to improve their way of life, thus promoting their independence at all levels and providing them with a measure of well-being:
- A workshop on information and communication technologies for the elderly, addressing the daily uses of information and communication technologies by the elderly, the various innovations and technological solutions of assistance, as well as the need to promote research and development in this field.
- A workshop on the care of the elderly and their health and well-being, dedicated to the discussion of digital health, elderly digital independence, the role of information and communication technologies as a means of support for the elderly, and home care and the protection of the elderly through the use of information and communication technologies.
- A workshop on strategies for ageing well, highlighting the legal and regulatory framework, multisectoral coordination, and simplification and digitalization of procedures.
The work of these workshops resulted in several recommendations, all of which underline the importance of the use of information and communication technologies by older people. They also encourage innovation in these areas to take advantage of the opportunities and benefits offered by these technologies. It is also stressed the imperative of the collaboration of all actors in this field to develop digital content and online services that meet the aspirations and needs of the elderly, while adapting them to the abilities and skills of this age group.
This must be accompanied by legal texts adjustment, which are intended for this category and the creation of new mechanisms facilitating the digital transition process, particularly with regard to administrative procedures that directly affect the elderly.