First GSM call made on Ericsson network

It was 15 years ago last July 1 when the world’s first commercial call using the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication was made. The network was delivered by Ericsson and operated by Mannesmann in Germany.

Since then, GSM has revolutionized the way the world communicates. Today, approximately every third person in the world has a GSM phone in his pocket – the two billion GSM subscriber milestone was passed in June – equating to 80 percent of all mobile users in the world.

No other communication technology has had such a significant impact. In terms of users, GSM has surpassed the Internet, personal computers and fixed telephone users.

Jan Uddenfeldt, Ericsson senior vice president for technology strategy, said, "GSM has grown constantly during its 15 years of commercial life. In the past 10 years, this growth has been exponential and I’m proud to be able to say that Ericsson has been instrumental in the development of this technology."

"Looking to the future, evolved GSM technology, such as 3G, could double Internet usage within a few years. In emerging markets especially, 3G technology is often the only way to reach the information available on the Internet – this is one way Ericsson supports its vision of being the prime driver in an all-communicating world," Uddenfeldt added.

Later this year, Ericsson will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the mobile phone.