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The growth of cellular telephone systems started in the early 1980s, particularly in Europe. The lack of 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 1987, a memorandum of understanding was signed by 13 countries to develop a common cellular telephone system 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 with joint technical infrastructure maintenance from Ericsson. By the end of 1993, over a million subscribers were using GSM phone networks being operated by 70 carriers across 48 countries.
Technical details
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