GSM Technology Turns 20
It wasn't the first cellular phone technology, but it was the development which led to a global expansion of cellular networks. In 1987 GSM, or the Global System for Mobile Communications got underway.
On 7 September 1987, 15 phone firms signed an agreement
to build mobile networks based on the Global System for Mobile (GSM)
Communications.
Robert Conway, head of the GSM Association, said the memorandum of understanding signed in 1987 is widely seen as the moment when the global mobile industry got under way.
Some would say that 1987 was also the beginning of the lack of an ability to travel on subways, trains, and buses without constant chatter, but that's another argument.
