History of GSM

The growth of cellular telephone systems started in the early 1980s, particularly in Europe. The lack of a technological standardization prompted the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) to create the Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSM) in 1982 with the objective of developing a standard for a mobile telephone system that could be used across Europe. In 1989, GSM responsibility was transferred to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), and phase I of the GSM specifications were published in 1990. The first GSM network was launched in 1991 by Radiolinja in Finland. By the end of 1993, over a million subscribers were using GSM phone networks being operated by 70 carriers across 48 countries.