1982 - The Beginning

• Nordic Telecom and Netherlands PTT propose to CEPT (Conference of European Post and Telecommunications) the development of a new digital cellular standard that would cope with the ever a burgeoning demands on European mobile networks. 

• The European Commission (EC) issues a directive which requires member states to reserve frequencies in the 900 MHz band for GSM to allow for roaming.

1986

• Main GSM radio transmission techniques are chosen

1987

• September - 13 operators and administrators from 12 areas in the CEPT GSM advisory group sign the charter GSM (Groupe Spéciale Mobile) MoU "Club" agreement, with a launch date of 1 July 1991.
  
• The original French name was later changed to Global System for Mobile Communications, but the original GSM acronym stuck.
  
• GSM spec drafted.

1989

• The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) defined GSM as the internationally accepted digital cellular telephony standard

• GSM becomes an ETSI technical committee

1990

• Phase 1 GSM 900 specifications are frozen
• DCS adaptation starts
• Validation systems implemented
• First GSM World congress in Rome with 650 Participants

1991

• First GSM spec demonstrated
• DCS specifications are frozen
• GSM World Congress Nice has 690 Participants

1992

• January - First GSM network operator is Oy Radiolinja Ab in Finland
• December 1992 - 13 networks on air in 7 areas
• GSM World Congress Berlin - 630 Participants

1993

• GSM demonstrated for the first time in Africa at Telkom '93 in Cape Town
• Roaming agreements between several operators established
• December 1993 - 32 networks on air in 18 areas
• GSM World Congress Lisbon with 760 Participants
• Telkom '93 held in Cape Town. First GSM systems shown.

1994

• First GSM networks in Africa launched in South Africa
• Phase 2 data/fax bearer services launched
• Vodacom becomes first GSM network in the world to implement data/fax
• GSM World Congress Athens with 780 Participants
• December 1994 - 69 networks on air in 43 areas

1995

• GSM MoU is formally registered as an Association registered in Switzerland - 156 members from 86 areas.
• GSM World Congress Madrid with 1400 Participants
• December 1995 117 networks on air in 69 areas
• Fax, data and SMS roaming started
• GSM phase 2 standardization is completed, including adaptation for PCS 1900 (PCS)
• First PCS 1900 network live 'on air' in the USA
• Telecom '95 Geneva - Nokia shows 33.6 kbps multimedia data via GSM
• Namibia goes on-line
• Ericsson 337 wins GSM phone of the year
• US FCC auctions off PCS licenses

1996

• GSM MoU is formally registered as an Association registered in Switzerland
• December 1996 120 networks on air in 84 areas
• GSM World Congress in Cannes
• GSM MoU Plenary held in Atlanta GA, USA
• 8K SIM launched
• Pre-Paid GSM SIM Cards launched
• Bundled billing introduced in South Africa
• Libya goes on-line
• Option International launches world's first GSM/Fixed-line modem

1997

• Zimbabwe goes live
• GSM World Congress Cannes 21/2/97
• Mozambique goes live
• Iridium birds launched
• First dual-band GSM 900-1900 phone launched by Bosch

1998

• Botswana GSM goes live
• GSM World Congress Cannes (2/98)
• Vodacom Introduces Free VoiceMail
• MTN Gets Uganda Tender
• GSM SIM Cracked in USA
• Over 2m GSM 1900 users
• MTN Gets Rwanda Tender
• MTN follows with free voicemail
• Rwanda GSM Live
• First HSCSD trials in Singapore
• Vodacom launches Yebo!Net 10/98
• Iridium Live 11/98
• First GSM Africa Conference (11/98)
• 125m GSM 900/1800/1900 users worldwide (12/98)
• Option International launches FirstFone
• MTN launches CarryOver minutes
  

1999

• GSM Conference in Cannes 2/99
• 165m GSM 900/1800/1900 users worldwide
• GPRS trials begin and USA and Scandanavia 1/99
• WAP trials in France and Italy 1/99
• CellExpo Africa 5/99
• Eight Bidders for Third SA Cell License
• GSM MoU Joins 3GPP
• MTN SA Head of GSM MoU
• First GPRS networks go live
• Bluetooth specification v1.0 released

2000

• GSM Conference in Cannes 3/2000
• By 12/2000 480m GSM 900/1800/1900 users worldwide
• First GPRS networks roll out
• Mobey Forum Launched
• MeT Forum Launched
• Location Interoperability Forum Launched
• First GPRS terminals seen
• Nokia releases SmartMessaging spec
• SyncML spec released

2001

• GSM Conference in Cannes 2/2001
• By 5/2001 500m GSM 900/1800/1900 users worldwide
• 16 billion SMS message sent in April 2001
• 500 million people are GSM users (4/01)