History of Cell Phone

          The basic concept of cellular phones began in 1947, when some engineers in USA looked at crude mobile (car) phones and realized that by using small cells (range of service area) with frequency reuse they could increase the traffic capacity of mobile phones substantially. However at that time, the technology to do so was nonexistent.

          In USA, anything to do with broadcasting and sending a radio or television message out over the airwaves is decided by a department known as Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Since a cell phone is a type of two-way radio, in 1947, an American company AT&T proposed that the FCC allocate a large number of radio-spectrum frequencies so that widespread mobile telephone service would become feasible. But FCC declined this request.

          The FCC reconsidered its position in 1968. AT&T (American Telephone and Telegraph) and another well-known American company ‘Bell Labs’ then proposed the present form of cellular system. In this system many small, low-powered, broadcast towers, each covering a 'cell' a few miles in radius collectively cover a large area. Each tower uses only a few of the total frequencies allocated to the system. As the phones travel across the area, calls are passed from tower to tower.

          Dr Martin Cooper, a general manager at an American company ‘Motorola’, is considered the inventor of the first modern portable handset. Cooper made the first call on a portable cell phone in April 1973. He made the call to his rival, Joel Engel. Thus Motorola was the first company to incorporate technology into portable device that was designed for use even outside of an automobile. By 1977, AT&T and Bell Labs had constructed a prototype cellular system.