Market Milestones
1984 | Agreement of France and Germany to introduce networks based on the standardised Pan-European digital system |
1987 (7 September) | GSM Memorandum of Understanding, an agreement to support the development of GSM and to implement it in 1991, signed in Copenhagen by 14 operators from 13 European countries. |
1988 Autumn | Ten GSM infrastructure contracts signed by ten network operators |
1988 (October) | Public presentation of the first set of GSM specifications at a conference in Hagen (Germany): 600 participants from Europe, USA and Japan, copies of the specifications on sale |
1990 (October) | Promotion seminar for Eastern European operators in Budapest |
1991-1992 | Search for a system name leads to "Global System for Mobile Communications" |
1992 | First commercial GSM networks come into service. First hand-portable terminals become available. International roaming becomes available. |
1993 | 1 million GSM users reached |
1993 | Australian operators are first non-European operators who decide to implement GSM |
1993 (September) | The first DCS 1800 (now GSM 1800) personal communication network opened in the UK |
1994 September | Promotion seminar for Indian authorities in New Delhi in August 94, for China in Beijing in September 94 |
1994 | Data capabilities launched in GSM networks. |
1995 (Autumn) | 10 million GSM users in 100 GSM networks on air in 60 countries world-wide |
1995 (November) | The first North American PCS 1900 (now GSM 1900) network opened |
1995 December | GSM promotion Seminar for South America in Buenos Aires |
1995 | Fax, data and SMS services started, video over GSM demonstrated. |
1996 (Spring) | Creation of the UMTS Forum as a world-wide body, dealing with market, regulation and spectrum aspects of UMTS. |
1998 (Mid) | 100 million GSM users world-wide |
2003 | 1 000 million GSM users world-wide |
2009 October | 4 000 million GSM/UMTS users worldwide (90 % of world market) |
2009 end | 409 million UMTS users (WCDMA and HSPA) |
2009 | First LTE trials |