History of Wireless Communications
From Building the Wireless Future® to Expanding the Wireless Frontier™
- In May, the FCC announced the decision to award two cellular licenses per market—one for a wireline company and one for a non-wireline company.
1983
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Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) released using the 800 MHz to 900 MHz frequency band and the 30 kHz bandwidth for each channel as a fully automated mobile telephone service. AMPS is the first standardized cellular service in the world.
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Motorola introduced the DynaTAC mobile telephone unit, the first truly “mobile” radiotelephone. The phone, dubbed the “brick”, had one hour of talk time and eight hours of standby.
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October 13, 1983: The first commercial cellular system begins operating in Chicago. In December 1983, the second system activated in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. corridor.
1984
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The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association was founded.
1985
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The 100th cellular system is turned on in New Bedford, MA.
1986
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The FCC switched to a lottery system to license cellular markets. At the urging of industry, the FCC allocates an additional 10 MHz of spectrum for cellular telecommunications. Cellular subscribership tops 2 million. 1,000 cell sites across America
1987
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Industry tops $1 billion in revenue.
1988
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CIBER Record® for carriers created, which allows nationwide wireless services.
1989
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Motorola announces the MicroTAC® personal cellular phone, which uses a flip-lid mouthpiece. The phone retails for an estimated $3000.
CTIA Wireless Industry Indices Report
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