World Telecommunication and Information Society Day marks the founding of the International Telecommunications Union in 1865. But since 1969, it has also celebrated the advances the industry has brought to society. Our Michael Hainsworth looks back at the last 50 years, and also to the future, with the ITU’s Doreen Bogdan-Martin and learns that the biggest challenge for the next 50 years is closing the digital divide COVID-19 clearly exposed.