- By S K Singh
- Wed, 30 Jul 2025 08:40 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
30 Years of Mobile Phone in India:Thirty years have passed since mobile phone services were introduced in India on July 31, 1995. The then Communications Minister, Sukh Ram, started the mobile phone services in India by making a phone call to the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu. That conversation took place on a Nokia handset through the Modi Telstra network. In the last three decades, India has become the world's second-largest telecom market, and the number of telecom subscribers has crossed the 117-crore mark. The number of 5G devices has crossed 27 crores.
According to the Ericsson Mobility Report of June 2025, India is at the top in per-user data usage. In India, every person uses an average of 32 GB of data in a month. This is estimated to reach up to 62 GB by 2030. Gulf countries are in second place, where every user uses 29 GB of data per month. According to Nokia's Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT) report released in March this year, in 2024, every user used an average of 27.5 GB of data per month. This can reach 50 GB by 2030. 5G users currently use 40 GB of data every month.
The development of this technology has widely impacted every aspect of life. Mobile phones, once available only to a select few, have now become an essential part of every person's daily life. In these three decades, the country has come a long way, from 2G to 5G and Mobile Number Portability (MNP). Moreover, on July 24 of this month, the Department of Telecommunications also released the draft of the 'National Telecom Policy 2025'.
Accelerating Growth Across All Sectors
The Director General of the Cellular Operators Association of India, Lt. Gen. Dr SP Kochhar, told Jagran Prime, “After the first cellular call in the year 1995, India's telecom sector has seen a big change. Today, India is the world's second largest telecom market. Here, the rates are also low. Affordable rates have done the work of connecting crores of people. Along with this, it has taken Digital India forward and given momentum to the development of every sector.”
Nokia India's Country Head, Tarun Chhabra, said, “We have played a significant role in India's remarkable progress in technology and connectivity in recent decades. Our journey includes many milestones. These include the first GSM call in India in 1995 on a Nokia-ready network and on a Nokia phone, bringing 3G services in 2011, playing a leading role in 4G/LTE technology in 2012, and starting 5G in India in 2022. Today, we are a key equipment supplier and technology partner for leading private and public operators, enterprises, and utility firms.”
Mahendra Nahata, MD of HFCL, one of the oldest companies in the telecom sector, says, “On the completion of three decades since the first mobile phone call in India, we are extremely proud of the remarkable change in the country's telecommunications landscape. This business, which started as a modest service, has today become one of the strongest and most dynamic infrastructures in the world. HFCL is privileged to be a part of this journey, contributing to innovative, reliable, and indigenous solutions that empower connectivity across the country.”
Rural Digital Connectivity
While through initiatives like ‘BharatNet’, high-speed broadband is reaching remote villages, the ‘Bharat 6G’ vision has the potential to erase the village-city distinction. Technology has not only made digital access universally available, but it has also brought revolutionary changes in sectors like healthcare and education. The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme has given momentum to investment and domestic manufacturing in the telecom sector.
Kochhar of COAI says, “Today, the average Indian customer uses the most data every month. This is proof of the world-class infrastructure developed by Indian telecom operators. 4G technology did the work of connecting crores of people through fast and reliable data. The arrival of 5G is taking this experience even further. The tireless efforts of the government and industry have ensured digital connectivity to every village.”
The biggest difference in development in the telecom sector is seen in all kinds of services. Rajesh Chandiramani, CEO of Comviva (established in 1999 as Bharti Telesoft), one of the oldest companies in the Value Added Services (VAS) segment in this industry, says, “The completion of 30 years of the first mobile phone call in India is a moment of pride and reflection for Comviva. We were one of the leading companies in the value-added service (VAS) sector, when such offerings played a significant role in enhancing the mobile experience in the early days. Whether it was SMS alerts, ringtones, or voice-based services. These innovations were the ones to transform the mobile phone from a communication device into a powerful engagement tool.”
“Since then, there have been radical changes in customer expectations and technology. From basic VAS to today's hyper-personalised, AI-driven digital experiences, this journey has been extraordinary. What was once ‘added value’, has now become the center of customer service. Personalisation, immediacy, omnipresence and seamless integration have become the cornerstones of customer engagement in the digital age.”
Mobile Density Reaches 82.10 Per cent
According to the June 2025 subscription report of the telecom regulator TRAI, the total mobile phone subscribers in the country are 117.08 crore (including 5G Fixed Wireless Access). Among these, 63.78 crore, i.e., 54.48 per cent, are in urban areas and 53.30 crore, i.e., 45.52 per cent, are in rural areas. The total tele-density is 82.74 per cent, which is 125.31 per cent in urban areas and 58.82 per cent in rural areas.
Excluding 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), the number of mobile subscribers is 116.30 crore. Among these, 63.31 crore are in urban areas and 52.98 crore are in rural areas. In this, the total tele-density is 82.10 per cent. It is 124.38 per cent in urban areas and 58.48 per cent in rural areas.
At this time, 1462 operators are providing broadband service. The number of broadband subscribers has also reached 97.97 crore. In the broadband market, Reliance Jio's share is 50.74 per cent, Bharti Airtel's is 31.06 per cent, Vodafone Idea's is 13 per cent, BSNL's is 3.44 per cent, and others' is 1.76 per cent.
Key Milestones in Wireless Telephony
Marconi's invention of wireless telegraphy in the 1890s is considered the first step in the direction of the mobile telephone. Commercial radio broadcasts started in the 1920s. Finnish scientist Eric Tigerstedt had applied for a patent for a pocket-sized folding telephone in 1917, which is considered the first idea of a mobile phone.
In the year 1946, the company AT&T received permission in Missouri (America) to build and operate the framework for a mobile telephone service. Those telephones were installed in cars with large batteries. Their size was quite large, and they were also heavy. Due to not much radio frequency being available, there was also a problem with transmission quality.
The next year, in 1947, the company AT&T brought forth the concept of 'cellular'. In this, a large geographical area was divided into different cells. Each cell had a separate base station. With this, the separate use of the same frequency in different cells became possible. In this way, theoretically, many customers could use a mobile telephone at the same time. However, it took many years for it to start.
The Motorola company demonstrated the first cellular phone in 1973. But Nippon Telegraph launched the first commercial cellular network in 1979 in Japan.
In America, the breakup of the Bell System company into seven companies in 1984 is also considered an important step. With this, there was an acceleration in the development of mobile telephony. In America, the first license to operate a mobile telephone system was given in 1982, and operations began in 1983. In Europe, the mobile telephone system started in Britain and the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden) in the 1980s and in the rest of the countries in the 1990s.
GSM started in Europe. Then, its name was Groupe Spécial Mobile, which was later changed to Global System for Mobile Communications. The SIM card started with GSM, with which people could transfer their data from one phone to another. The first call on GSM was made on 1 July 1991, the network for which was prepared by Nokia and Siemens.