World Telecommunication and Information Society Day 2022

World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is celebrated annually to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide.

WTISD is celebrated annually on 17 May since 1969, marking the founding of ITU and the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865. The United Nations decided to mark the day after it was instituted by the Plenipotentiary Conference in Malaga-Torremolinos, Spain, in 1973. The UN decided to mark World Information Society Day on 17 May after the World Summit on the Information Society called upon the UNGA in 2005 and requested it draws attention to the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the modern world.

Later in 2006, it was decided by the ITU in a Plenipotentiary Conference in Turkey’s Antalya to combine both celebrations as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD). Now, at the present time, the day is celebrated to raise awareness about the possibilities of bridging the gap in society, and economies through the internet.

The theme for the year 2022

Every year, the day is celebrated under a particular theme, and this year it is – Digital Technologies For Older Persons And Healthy Ageing. This year's theme focuses on how ICT can help in achieving various goals like building smart cities, ensuring financial inclusion of older persons, combating age-based discrimination at the workplace, and so on.

Here we have compiled the views of Telecom leaders on World Telecommunication and Information Society Day:

"India is at a cusp where possible 5G roll out this year will ensure the beginning of endless possibilities in communication services and customer experience. For adopting new tech and infrastructure, Skilling along with reskilling/upskilling of the workforce will ensure that the human resource requirement is sufficient when 5G services are live. TSSC along with all stakeholders is already driving training of the workforce in new-age technologies and has developed NSQF-aligned courses with a unified credit framework on 5G technology that will be recognized in universities and institutions to meet this huge upcoming demand for trained talent force when the time comes. We are here to ensure smooth adoption and execution of 5G technologies in India from a skill management perspective. "- Arvind Bali, CEO, Telecom Sector Skill Council

“On World Telecommunication and Information Day, we must acknowledge that it was the pandemic that re-enforced the prominence and relevance of this core sector. It is our telecommunication prowess that empowered us to face the pandemic and emerge as resilient and flexible species capable of overcoming unprecedented calamities. Mobile devices have been leading the telecom revolution and have enabled us to utilize the latest developments in communications thereby making mobile devices one of the fastest-growing devices throughout the history of human life. With the deployment of 5G expected sooner rather than later, the telecommunication and information sector is set to disrupt the world as we know it, causing ripple effects across industries such as real estate, healthcare, finance, and education among others”. -Anuj Mathur, Sr. Director of Engineering, Compass, Inc.

“The next generation of cellular technology is poised to revolutionize India's digital landscape. 5G will change the way we interact with technology, ushering in a new wave of innovation that will significantly propel development across industries. This next-generation wireless technology not only guarantees higher data capacity and speed but also provides the capacity to connect billions of devices, helping redefine a range of industries beyond mobile devices while bringing to life concepts like remote surgery, industrial applications, self-driving cars, drones, virtual reality, home broadband, etc. As per industry estimates, the fifth generation of mobile networking, or 5G, is expected to trigger a cumulative economic impact of $1 trillion in India by 2035”, - Dr. Subbarao Boddu, Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Mahindra University.

“Adoption of 5G is the most remarkable technological innovation and societal disruption of this decade.  The industry estimates, that the adoption of 5G enabled smartphones in India to more than triple in 2022. The telecom industry is gradually entering an era of innovation, technologies like the Internet of Things, 5G, Artificial Intelligence, and AR/VR are transforming connectivity, creating better, more personalised, and better experiences for better user experience. MediaTek is focused on R&D in new-age technologies like AIoT, edge computing, and 5G and supports the user's needs in areas like connectivity and networking, telemedicine, health-tech, and remote education among others.

Telecommunications has played a significant role in connecting and running businesses, societies, and government efficiently, as a result, we’re able to connect digitally in such difficult times and the IT sector has been a great beacon of light, allowing billions of people to stay connected with the world, made us realise the importance of telecommunication in our life and has revolutionised the whole world” - Anku Jain, MD, at MediaTek

“5G has the potential to address the issue of the digital divide by improving the public infrastructure and creating intelligent and hyperconnected communities. Over the next few years, 5G is anticipated to become the standard for mobile communications technology, ushering in a new era of connectivity, speed, and possibility. Additionally, it will also give enterprises across verticals the opportunity to experiment with myriad ideas, innovate, break new ground, and make data-driven decisions for enhanced customer experiences. We anticipate 5G to spearhead the next wave of digital transformation and those who leverage the technology today will have the power of ‘edge’, a competitive advantage, and an opportunity to create enterprises of tomorrow.” - Manish Vyas, President, Communications, Media and Entertainment Business, and CEO, Network Services, Tech Mahindra

"Nokia is working with Indian CSPs for getting their networks ready for 5G and has demonstrated its 5G capabilities in the live trials. As a front runner in the PLI (Production Linked Incentive) scheme, we are already manufacturing 5G equipment in India at our Chennai factory while our global delivery centers in Noida and Chennai are managing 5G deployments for several global markets. We are all set to support the CSPs unleashing the 5G revolution in India." - Nokia

“The Indian telecom industry is set to make a huge social and economic impact with 5G. 5G technology is expected to contribute $450 billion to the economy between 2023-2040, and the cumulative economic impact of 5G is estimated to be $1 trillion by 2035 itself. To make these numbers a reality, India is expected to have 920 million unique mobile subscribers by 2025, including 88 million 5G connections. However, to realize this vision, ‘fiberization’ of telecom towers should grow from the current level of 30-35% to 70% or more. The network infrastructure also needs to be upgraded and that would require an entirely new orchestration layer to achieve the critical feature of 5G network slicing. Many Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) have moved their core systems to the cloud and looking at using technologies like Kubernetes to run their infrastructure with greater flexibility.

GIS will serve as the backbone technology in planning the new network designs, suitable for delivering the next-generation customer experiences. To handle the agility and low latency demands of a 5G network, telecom companies, and enterprises will heavily rely on GIS technology. Powered with Esri ArcGIS Utility Network, a Geospatial Infrastructure will play a vital role in helping TSPs in designing and managing their networks, assets, and operations in an integrated fashion, and be agile enough to grow as their business requirements change. ArcGIS deployment with Kubernetes can provide them with the benefits of streamlined deployment, scalability, lesser infrastructure costs, capacity building for GIS services, and many others.

We also foresee a potential convergence of 5G and GIS. 5G will fuel the adoption of GIS technology as it will enable more efficient spatial data creation and this, in turn, will further increase the deployment of GIS applications across industries including e-Governance, Smart Cities, Climate Change, Disaster Management, Defense, Manufacturing, Agriculture, Healthcare and many more. Both 5G and GIS would complement one another and play a transformational role in the success of Digital India.” - Agendra Kumar, MD, Esri India

The day also aims to make information and communication easily accessible to the people living in the remotest parts of the rural areas in the world.