International Internet Day is annually observed across the globe on October 29th to celebrate the anniversary of the first-ever transmission of an electronic message from one computer to another over ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network).
The day also commemorates the progress in the history of telecommunications and technology.
Background:
i.The First ever International Internet Day was celebrated on 29th October 2005 to highlight the importance of the internet.
ii.The day is promoted by the Association of Internet Users(AIU).
iii.The 29th October was chosen to commemorate the anniversary of the transmission of the first ever electronic message.
Birth of Internet:
i.The first working prototype of the Internet was made in the late 1960s with the creation of ARPANET, established by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the United States Department of Defense.
ii.ARPANET used packet switching to allow multiple computers to communicate on a single network
- ARPANET was decommissioned in 1990, which marked a transition to the modern internet.
First Electronic Message:
i.A team of students led by Leonard Kleinrock professor of computer science at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering sent the first electronic message from one node in the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to another node at Stanford Research Institute on 29th October 1969.
ii.Student programmer Charley Kline sent the first message from UCLA SDS Sigma 7 Host computer to Bill Duvall at Stanford Research Institute on 29th October 1969.
iii.The first message transmitted over the network(ARPANET) was the word ‘LO’ and later the programmers sent in the word ‘LOGIN’.
Key Points:
i.According to the Speedtest 2021 global index, the mobile download speed has increased by 59.5% over the last year globally and the same for fixed broadband increased by 31.9%.
ii.In terms of mobile internet speed during July, the United Arab Emirates(UAE) tops the list followed by South Korea, Qatar, China, Cyprus, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Australia and Bulgaria(top 10).
iii.India has ranked 122nd with 17.77 Mbps mobile download speed, 5.09 Mbps mobile upload speed and 47 ms latency.
Event in India:
As a part of the International Internet Day 2021, RailTel, telecom infrastructure provider, has created the PM WANI (PM Wi-Fi Access Network Interface) app to assist people to connect seamlessly with the available public WiFi networks.
The PM WANI app is under testing with the Centre for Development of Telematics(CDoT).
About PM Wi-Fi Access Network Interface(PM-WANI):
The Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the proposal of Department of Telecom (DoT) to proliferate Broadband through Public Wi-Fi networks under the framework of the Prime Minister’s Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (PM-WANI) on 9th December 2020.
Note:
RailTel is a registered Public Data Office Aggregator(PDOA) under the PM-WANI project and has developed and deployed PM-WANI solutions across its Wi-Fi Network at 6063 railway stations.
