Overview

The first mobile phone systems to be launched were based on analogue technology. By today s standards the performance was limited, the phones were large, and initially the coverage was poor. In addition to this, when the phone systems were first launched they were very expensive, which limited them to business use. Nevertheless, these phone systems marked a major milestone in telecommunications history. For their day they represented a major step forward in technology, and they also established a market that grew well beyond the initial predictions. In fact, many of these systems quickly ran out of capacity as a result of the demand as the numbers of subscribers grew.

Around the world a number of different standards were introduced. Although many of the systems were adapted from others, it still meant that incompatible systems were often in use from one country to the next. As roaming was not a concept that had gained a foothold by this time this was not a major problem, but it did mean that manufacturers could not gain the full benefits of scale that might otherwise have been possible, even though many of the differences were relatively small.

The three main systems that were launched were NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System, also known under its specification number as IS-41) and TACS (Total Access Communications System). The NMT system was developed as a joint venture by Nordic countries with Ericsson, and Nokia playing a major part, although there were many other...