19 May 1987

Bonn Ministers’ Declaration on Pan-European Digital Cellular Radio

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Four governments put their authority behind a common European mobile system at Bonn on 19 May 1987. The declaration records agreement on the technology and measures needed to open services by 1991. Crucially, it called for an operators’ Memorandum of Understanding: political agreement alone could not build the networks or secure the investment. The surviving signature pages bring ministers, officials and operators into the same record. Stephen Temple describes the negotiations behind this apparently ceremonial moment in both books. The archive identifies this as the UK government’s copy, whose original is held by the Science Museum in London.

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About GSM History
Inside the Mobile Revolution — Chapter 17: The Turning Point – Bonn Meeting of Ministers
Casting the Nets — Chapter 17: The Turning Point – Bonn Meeting of Ministers
History of GSM