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By Sonny Aragba-Akpore
Twenty years after the establishment of World Summit of Information Society (WSIS), nothing significant has changed.
“WSIS was born from a shared belief that digital innovation must reflect human needs, not just match the pace of technological change,” according to International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin.
“As artificial intelligence accelerates our transition from an Information Society to an Intelligent Society, WSIS helps keep our focus where it should be – on people-centred, inclusive digital development.”
RELATED: WSIS at 20: Digital@UNGA event backs framework for global digital cooperation ahead of UN review
20 Years of WSIS: A Review of Progress and a Vision for an Intelligent Society
On December 16 to 17, 2025, WSIS held the Digital Conference in collaboration with the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) specifically to review how far the society had fared in 20 years.
“Twenty years ago, leaders from all sectors came together and determined to chart a path where digital technologies could support sustainable development and prosperity. Today is about both celebrating progress and charting a path forward. At UNDP, we are convinced of the power of technologies for accelerating development and serving people and the planet,” said Haoliang Xu, UNDP Associate Administrator.
But at the Digital UNGA, short of passing a vote of no confidence, participants kept mute on the realities on ground.
Progress Made, Yet Billions Remain Unconnected in Underserved Communities
Although, significant progress has been made, there are billions of unconnected persons across unserved and underserved communities.
The disparities have led to the establishment of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals where it is envisaged that the 2.6 billion unconnected population will be connected by 2030.
Formed from summits in 2003 in Geneva, Switzerland, and 2005 in Tunis, Tunisia, the WSIS process has focused the public and private sectors on people-centred and sustainable digital development aimed at ensuring that the benefits of technologies reach everyone.
Digital@UNGA WSIS+20: Tech, Governance & Infrastructure for Future Societies
To set the stage for the General Assembly review, the Digital@UNGA WSIS+20 Edition examined the impact of emerging technologies, governance and digital public infrastructure on building information and knowledge-based societies.
Laudable as the plans may have been,WSIS is Work in Progress. The special Digital@UNGA event highlighted public-private cooperation to connect some of the world’s hardest-to-reach communities, with the Partner2Connect (P2C) Digital Coalition’s yearly Meeting for 2025 that took place as part of the event.
During the event, new P2C commitments were announced that reflect growing multistakeholder engagement to accelerate global progress on connectivity.
Partner2Connect – the ITU-led pledging platform dedicated to mobilizing resources, partnerships, and commitments to achieve universal meaningful connectivity and sustainable digital transformation – is an action-oriented mechanism that can connect communities and spur digital progress, following the original WSIS vision.
Partner2Connect: $80B+ Mobilized, Advancing on $100B Goal
Partner2Connect pledges are categorized under WSIS Action Lines – a set of 11 priority areas for UN efforts to leverage fast-evolving technologies for human development. To date, over USD 80 billion has been mobilized as part of the goal to reach USD 100 billion in 2026.
Digital@UNGA was a joint initiative of ITU and UNDP to explore how digital technologies can drive progress for people and prosperity everywhere. The organizers are thankful to Digital@UNGA Lead Supporters and P2C Champions for supporting the Digital@UNGA: WSIS+20 Edition.
Apart from ITU and the UNDP,the event brought together representatives of government, industry, civil society, academia, the technology community and the UN system, serving as a bridge to the WSIS+20 review .
“WSIS was born from a shared belief that digital innovation must reflect human needs, not just match the pace of technological change. As artificial intelligence accelerates our transition from an Information Society to an Intelligent Society, WSIS helps keep our focus where it should be – on people-centred, inclusive digital development,” said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin.
WSIS at 20: Global Community Reaffirms Framework for Digital Cooperation
Two decades since the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) created an international dialogue for the digital age, the global digital community voiced support at a special event at UN headquarters for the WSIS process as the framework to guide digital cooperation.
Participants at the Digital@UNGA WSIS+20 Edition looked back at 20 years of multi-stakeholder cooperation, welcomed new commitments, and discussed a common vision for the digital future in advance of the UN General Assembly’s WSIS+20 Overall Review .
WSIS major milestone was to review progress, reimagine the future information society, and align with new frameworks like the Global Digital Compact (GDC).
The Geneva Plan of Action and Tunis Agenda provide core principles for inclusive digital societies, forming the basis for global digital policy.
The WSIS Forum: Where Governments, Civil Society & Industry Converge
In terms of multi stakeholders platform the yearly WSIS Forum serves as a unique global platform for governments, civil society, private sector, and technical communities to collaborate and exchange ideas.
This dovetails into the WSIS Action Lines. These 11 lines provide a roadmap for using ICTs for development, covering infrastructure, access, capacity building, security, and specific applications including e-gov, e-health, among others.
A database documents thousands of successful ICT projects, and the yearly WSIS Prizes recognize innovative solutions, promoting replicable best practices. A digital Cooperation is fostered for the creation of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and strengthened UN agency collaboration (UNGIS) for coordinated digital development.
SDG Alignment
WSIS efforts have successfully integrated with and accelerated the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals through digital transformation initiatives. Despite the seemingly slow pace of the implementation of WSIS,Smartphones account for about 87% of mobile phones in use, with around 7.4 billion in circulation.
They account for ubiquitous ownership where mobile phones are widespread, with over three-quarters of people aged 10+ owning one according to ITU, 2023 reports.
Eighty four percent of adults in developing nations own a mobile phone, but basic phones are more common in regions like Sub-Saharan Africa.
Women and low-income adults are less likely to own phones, with gaps more pronounced in smartphone ownership than basic devices.
Mobile data usage is immense, with video traffic alone requiring storage equivalent to billions of DVDs monthly.
Mobile technologies contribute significantly to the global economy, expected to add nearly $11 trillion by 2030.
