World Telecommunication and Information Society Day is celebrated annually May 17. This date marks the anniversary of the signing of the 1st International Telegraph Convention, in Paris, on May 17, 1865. Its purpose corresponds to raising awareness of the benefits and opportunities that the Internet and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) bring to societies and economies.
ICT is part of the UN Agenda 2030, stressing the need to bridge the digital divide between developed and developing countries. Every year the celebrations emphasize a specific theme. The 2021 theme is “Accelerating digital transformation in challenging times”.
May 17 was proclaimed as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day through Resolution 60/252 adopted at the United Nations General Assembly of March 27, 2006. Angola has a history of more than a century in the Telecommunications subsector with the order of the first 50 telephones for public use in 1885.
The Minister of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication, Manuel Homem, said that the history that our country has in Telecommunications is very important and strategic, because Telecommunications are still very much in the context of post offices, telegraphs… Since that time , the country has always been concerned with communication.
Communications have always been considered a strategic resource. Therefore, with the evolution of the times and, especially in the period of the civil war, communications were always strategic. For this reason, the State has always been concerned with investment and protection of Telecommunications infrastructures. With that, we can say that, during the historical trajectory of the world evolution of Telecommunications, our country has also been following this development that the world has registered, said Manuel Homem, during the interview given to Jornal de Angola.
Regarding the date, the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technologies and Social Communication (MINTTICS) reaffirms its commitment to the continuous improvement of the provision of public and basic telephony and internet access services, as they are fundamental in the process of modernizing governance.
Official data from the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Social Communication indicate that Angola has more than 15 million mobile phone subscribers, 7 million internet users and more than 2 million pay-TV users.
