The first cellular radio mobile phone call from a handheld device was made 40 years ago today, on 3 April 1973. The caller was Martin Cooper, a senior engineer at Motorola who demonstrated the device in a street while in the presence of reporters. However, it was to be several years later before the first commercial services were launched.

In 1981, the first multinational mobile cellular telephone system was developed within the Scandinavian countries of Denmark Sweden, Finland, and Norway. In 1983, Ameritech started the first American commercial cellular service in Chicago. In 1985, Cellnet and Racal-Vodafone were awarded licences to offer analogue cellular phones in the UK. These first generation mobile systems used analogue techniques and large bulky telephone handsets (commonly referred to as “bricks”).

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