Editing Cellular network (section)

== History ==
{{see also|History of mobile phones}}
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| footer            = Examples of modern devices that may use cellular networks: a mobile phone (top-left), an [[Panic button|emergency/panic button]] in a car (top-right), an electricity [[smart meter]] (bottom-left) and a [[Mobile broadband modem|mobile broadband USB modem]] attached to a laptop (bottom-right)
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The idea to establish a standard cellular phone network was first proposed on December 11, 1947. This proposal was put forward by [[Douglas H. Ring]], a [[Bell Labs]] engineer, in an internal memo suggesting the development of a cellular telephone system by [[AT&T]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/09/the-1947-paper-that-first-described-a-cell-phone-network/245222/ |title=The 1947 Paper That First Described a Cell-Phone Network |date=September 16, 2011 |author=Alexis C. Madrigal |magazine=[[The Atlantic]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Zhou |first=Shengjun |date=2024-02-02 |title=From 0G to 5G, the century-long ups and downs of mobile communication |url=https://medium.com/@xzclass/from-0g-to-5g-the-century-long-ups-and-downs-of-mobile-communication-d9840e191c19 |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=Medium |language=en}}</ref>

The first commercial cellular network, the [[1G]] generation, was launched in Japan by [[Nippon Telegraph and Telephone]] (NTT) in 1979, initially in the metropolitan area of [[Tokyo]]. However, NTT did not initially commercialize the system; the early launch was motivated by an effort to understand a practical cellular system rather than by an interest to profit from it.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Cellular : an economic and business history of the international mobile-phone industry {{!}} Library of Congress |url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcebookspublic.2021060544/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=www.loc.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dunnewijk |first=Theo |last2=Hultén |first2=Staffan |date=2007-08-01 |title=A brief history of mobile communication in Europe |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0736585307000226 |journal=Telematics and Informatics |series=Mobile Communications: From Cellular to Ad-hoc and Beyond |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=164–179 |doi=10.1016/j.tele.2007.01.013 |issn=0736-5853|url-access=subscription }}</ref> In 1981, the [[Nordic Mobile Telephone]] system was created as the first network to cover an entire country. The network was released in 1981 in Sweden and Norway, then in early 1982 in Finland and Denmark. [[Televerket (Sweden)|Televerket]], a state-owned corporation responsible for telecommunications in Sweden, launched the system.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Al-Khouri |first=Ali M. |date=2015 |title=Towards a SIM-less Existence: The Evolution of Smart Learning Networks |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/44430335 |journal=Educational Technology |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=19–26 |issn=0013-1962}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Carlsson |first=Lennart |last2=Tribune |first2=International Herald |date=1991-10-08 |title=Nordic Mobile Phones a Ringing Success |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/08/IHT-nordic-mobile-phones-a-ringing-success.html |access-date=2025-01-08 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In September 1981, [[Jan Stenbeck#:~:text=He was head of Kinnevik,people, worth some $800 million.|Jan Stenbeck]], a financier and businessman, launched [[Comviq#:~:text=The original Comvik was established,launch of its NMT network.|Comvik]], a new Swedish telecommunications company. Comvik was the first European telecommunications firm to challenge the state's telephone monopoly on the industry.<ref>{{Citation |last=Syvertsen |first=Trine |title=The Nordic Media Company |date=2014 |work=The Media Welfare State |pages=96–118 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv65swsg.8 |access-date=2025-01-09 |series=Nordic Media in the Digital Era |publisher=University of Michigan Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctv65swsg.8 |last2=Enli |first2=Gunn |last3=Mjøs |first3=Ole J. |last4=Moe |first4=Hallvard|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Garrard |first=Garry A. |title=Cellular communications: worldwide market development |date=1998 |publisher=Artech House |isbn=978-0-89006-923-3 |series=The Artech House mobile communications series |location=Boston}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Eriksson |first=Klas |last2=Lakomaa |first2=Erik |last3=Nykvist |first3=Rasmus |last4=Sandström |first4=Christian |date=2024-03-05 |title=Introducing the inverted Icarus paradox in business history – Evidence from David and Goliath in the Swedish telecommunications industry 1981–1990 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00076791.2023.2292134 |journal=Business History |language=en |pages=1–26 |doi=10.1080/00076791.2023.2292134 |issn=0007-6791|doi-access=free }}</ref> According to some sources, Comvik was the first to launch a commercial automatic cellular system before Televerket launched its own in October 1981. However, at the time of the new network’s release, the [[Swedish Post and Telecom Authority]] threatened to shut down the system after claiming that the company had used an unlicensed automatic gear that could interfere with its own networks.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Andersson |first=Per |title=Stenbeck: En biografi över en framgångsrik affärsman |date=2014 |publisher=Modernista |isbn=978-91-7499-230-4}}</ref> In December 1981, Sweden awarded Comvik with a license to operate its own automatic cellular network in the spirit of market competition.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mölleryd |first=Bengt G. |title=Entrepreneurship in technological systems: the development of mobile telephony in Sweden |date=1999 |publisher=Economic Research Institute, Stockholm School of Economics [Ekonomiska forskningsinstitutet vid Handelshögsk.] (EFI |isbn=978-91-7258-523-2 |location=Stockholm}}</ref>

The [[Bell System]] had developed cellular technology since 1947, and had cellular networks in operation in [[Chicago]], Illinois,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Advanced Mobile Phone Service: The Developmental System |journal=[[Bell System Technical Journal]] |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=249-269 |date=January 1979 |doi=10.1002/j.1538-7305.1979.tb02218.x}}</ref> and [[Dallas]], Texas, prior to 1979; however, regulatory battles delayed AT&T's deployment of cellular service to 1983,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.justice.gov/archives/atr/att-divestiture-was-it-necessary-was-it-success |title=The AT&T Divestiture: Was It Necessary? Was It a Success? |author=Robert W. Crandall |at=Slide 11 |date=March 28, 2007}}</ref> when its [[Regional Holding Company]] [[Illinois Bell]] first provided cellular service.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.corp.att.com/attlabs/reputation/timeline/46mobile.html |title=1946: First Mobile Telephone Call |year=2011 |website=AT&T Labs |access-date=2012-04-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121212113039/http://www.corp.att.com/attlabs/reputation/timeline/46mobile.html |archive-date=2012-12-12}}</ref>

First-generation cellular network technology continued to expand its reach to the rest of the world. In 1990, [[Millicom|Millicom Inc.]], a telecommunications service provider, strategically partnered with Comvik’s international cellular operations to become Millicom International Cellular SA.<ref>“[https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/912958/000104746904010287/a2132538z6-k.htm Millicom International Cellular S.A.] (31, March 2004). Form 6-K. Retrieved from the Securities and Exchange Commission". </ref> The company went on to establish a 1G systems foothold in Ghana, Africa under the brand name Mobitel.<ref>[https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/912958/000104746909003511/a2191853z20-f.htm “Millicom International Cellular S.A.] (31, Dec. 2008). Form 20-F. Retrieved from the Securities and Exchange Commission".</ref> In 2006, the company’s Ghana operations were renamed to Tigo.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bharti Airtel and Millicom announce deal closure to combine operations in Ghana |url=https://www.bharti.com/press-release-2017-2018-bharti-airtel-millicom-announce.html |access-date=2025-01-10 |website=www.bharti.com}}</ref>

The [[wireless revolution]] began in the early 1990s,<ref name="Golio">{{cite book |last1=Golio |first1=Mike |last2=Golio |first2=Janet |title=RF and Microwave Passive and Active Technologies |date=2018 |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |isbn=9781420006728 |pages=ix, I-1, 18-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MCj9jxSVQKIC&pg=PR9 |access-date=16 October 2019 |archive-date=22 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122155510/https://books.google.com/books?id=MCj9jxSVQKIC&pg=PR9 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rappaport |first1=T. S. |title=The wireless revolution |journal=IEEE Communications Magazine |date=November 1991 |volume=29 |issue=11 |pages=52–71 |doi=10.1109/35.109666 |s2cid=46573735 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The wireless revolution |url=https://www.economist.com/leaders/1999/01/21/the-wireless-revolution |access-date=12 September 2019 |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=January 21, 1999 |archive-date=16 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191016153230/https://www.economist.com/leaders/1999/01/21/the-wireless-revolution |url-status=live }}</ref> leading to the transition from analog to [[digital electronics|digital networks]].<ref name="Baliga">{{cite book |last1=Baliga |first1=B. Jayant |author1-link=B. Jayant Baliga |title=Silicon RF Power MOSFETS |date=2005 |publisher=[[World Scientific]] |isbn=9789812561213 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=StJpDQAAQBAJ |access-date=16 October 2019 |archive-date=22 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122155511/https://books.google.com/books?id=StJpDQAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> The MOSFET invented at [[Bell Labs]] between 1955 and 1960,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=Huff |first1=Howard |last2=Riordan |first2=Michael |date=2007-09-01 |title=Frosch and Derick: Fifty Years Later (Foreword) |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/2.F02073IF |journal=The Electrochemical Society Interface |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=29 |doi=10.1149/2.F02073IF |issn=1064-8208|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Frosch |first1=C. J. |last2=Derick |first2=L |date=1957 |title=Surface Protection and Selective Masking during Diffusion in Silicon |url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1149/1.2428650 |journal=Journal of the Electrochemical Society |language=en |volume=104 |issue=9 |pages=547 |doi=10.1149/1.2428650|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Lojek1202">{{cite book |last1=Lojek |first1=Bo |title=History of Semiconductor Engineering |date=2007 |publisher=[[Springer Science & Business Media]] |isbn=9783540342588 |page=120}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Lojek |first=Bo |title=History of Semiconductor Engineering |date=2007 |publisher=Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg |isbn=978-3-540-34258-8 |location=Berlin, Heidelberg |page=321}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ligenza |first1=J.R. |last2=Spitzer |first2=W.G. |date=1960 |title=The mechanisms for silicon oxidation in steam and oxygen |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0022369760902195 |journal=Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids |language=en |volume=14 |pages=131–136 |bibcode=1960JPCS...14..131L |doi=10.1016/0022-3697(60)90219-5|url-access=subscription }}</ref> was adapted for cellular networks by the early 1990s, with the wide adoption of [[power MOSFET]], [[LDMOS]] ([[RF amplifier]]), and [[RF CMOS]] ([[RF circuit]]) devices leading to the development and proliferation of digital wireless mobile networks.<ref name="Baliga"/><ref name="Asif">{{cite book |last1=Asif |first1=Saad |title=5G Mobile Communications: Concepts and Technologies |date=2018 |publisher=[[CRC Press]] |isbn=9780429881343 |pages=128–134 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yg1mDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT128 |access-date=16 October 2019 |archive-date=22 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122155511/https://books.google.com/books?id=yg1mDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT128 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="O'Neill">{{cite journal |last1=O'Neill |first1=A. |title=Asad Abidi Recognized for Work in RF-CMOS |journal=IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society Newsletter |date=2008 |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=57–58 |doi=10.1109/N-SSC.2008.4785694 |issn=1098-4232}}</ref>

The first commercial digital cellular network, the [[2G]] generation, was launched in 1991. This sparked competition in the sector as the new operators challenged the incumbent 1G analog network operators.