1981

Home Office: Frequency Requirements

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The spectrum that mobile networks needed was already the subject of difficult choices before GSM had a name. This Home Office minute considers British Telecom’s demand for radio frequencies alongside military use, broadcasting and the possibility of competition. Officials were trying to anticipate mobile demand years ahead, while confronting questions that a monopoly telephone service had not previously had to answer. The paper preserves those uncertainties in the language of an internal discussion, rather than a later public announcement. It is a revealing starting point for understanding how access to the airwaves helped determine what mobile communications could become.

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About GSM History
Before GSM: opening Europe’s airwaves (1966–1979)