This year marks 50 Years of World Communication Day which was first celebrated in 1969.

The World Telecommunication Day and Information Society Day is celebrated every year on May 17 around the world. The day was formerly called World Telecommunications Day, but in November 2005, the World Summit on the Information Society called upon the UN General Assembly to declare May 17 as World Information Society Day. Since then, the day came to be known as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) after 2005. This year marks 50 Years of World Communication Day which was first celebrated in 1969.

Here are 5 things to know about World Telecommunication Day

May 17 also marks the anniversary of signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and coincides with the day when the International Telecommunication Union was formed.

World Telecommunication Day raises global awareness about the use of Internet and Information and Communications Technologies or ICT for changing societies and economies. It also focuses and aims to bridge the digital divide.

The theme for this year of World Telecommunication Day 'Bridging the standardization gap' focuses on the power of data for development and aims to explore how to turn complex, and unstructured data into actionable information to help move development forward.

The day is celebrated to increase awareness of the positive communication technology among people in the world.

World Telecommunication Day also aims towards making both information and communication easily accessible to people living in remote and rural areas.