Il 7 September 1987, in Copenhagen, came Historic agreement ratified that would change the world of telecommunications forever. Thirteen European countries joined together to give life to a unique and innovative standard: the Mob (Global System for Mobile Communications). This decision, taken at a time when mobile communications were still in their infancy, represented the first concrete step towards today's mobile revolution.
GSM is an open standard developed by Cept, formalized by Etsi and made operational by the 3GPP consortium. As of 2017, it was the most widespread mobile telecommunications system in the world, used by over 3 billion people in 200 countries.
Mobile telecommunications in the 80s
In the 80s, mobile telecommunications were still a limited, expensive and technologically fragmented phenomenon. Each European country adopted different systems, making it difficult to interconnect national networks. The first cell phones were huge, impractical, and, most importantly, incompatible across networks.
THEEurope was at a crossroads: to remain with separate and disconnected national standards or to adopt a unitary vision, which would allow European citizens to communicate across national borders without constraints. It was in this context that theneed to create a uniform mobile telecommunications system.
The need for a common standard
Before 1987, mobile communications used analogue technologies, including the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) system in the Nordic countries, the Total Access Communication System (TACS) in the UK, and the RTMI in France and Germany. These systems worked well domestically but had obvious limitations in terms of international interoperability. The increasing mobility of people in Europe, along with the expansion of common markets, required a more efficient solution.
The Copenhagen Accord
The Copenhagen Agreement of 7 September 1987 was the response to the growing need to overcome limits of analog technology in telecommunications. With this agreement, thirteen European countries joined together to define a digital standard that would improve call quality and connection capacity, paving the way for the birth of GSM.
I Participating countries were France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Austria. The choice of GSM represented Europe's determination to remain at the forefront of technological innovation, establishing itself as a world leader in the telecommunications sector.
The Copenhagen agreement was not only a technical decision, but also a strategic move. In the 80s, telecommunications were dominated by the United States and Japan, which were developing their own standards such as the Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) and the Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) system. Europe, to avoid being left behind in such a crucial sector, understood the importance of adopt a common standard that could compete globally.
After the agreement was signed, they immediately began theivories for system developmentThe first prototype of a GSM network was successfully tested in 1991 in Finland, and the first commercial services were active as early as 1992. Within a short time, GSM adoption expanded rapidly throughout Europe and, subsequently, throughout the world.
The creation of GSM represented, therefore, not only a step forward for telecommunications, but also a political and industrial victory for Europe, which positioned itself as a technologically advanced area and ready to challenge the international giants.
The features of GSM
The Copenhagen Accord of 1987 was not only a political agreement, but marked the beginning of a technological revolution. In fact, GSM introduced a digital technology in mobile communications for the first time, marking the overcoming of analogue systems and then set an international standard, improving transmission speed, introducing new services such as SMS and ensuring greater security.
The system, known as 2G, not only allowed voice calls, but also data transmission, enabling the international roaming e new low-cost services for users. For operators, it offered infrastructure at competitive prices, even if the TDMA (Time division multiple access) access technology was considered less advanced than CDMA (Code division multiple access).
GSM continued to evolve with the introduction of GPRS (2.5G) and Edge (2.75G), further improving transmission speed and facilitating Internet access. The system included components such as Sim card, which allowed to easily change devices without losing access to the network, and international roaming, making global communication more accessible and uniform. This was precisely one of the pillars on which the success of GSM was based on a global level.
The success of GSM and its legacy
The adoption of GSM led to a exponential growth in the number of mobile phone users. The system proved to be flexible, scalable and capable of supporting an ever-increasing number of users without sacrificing quality of service.
The Copenhagen Accord of 7 September 1987 has left a remarkable legacy. The Gsm has revolutionized the way people communicate, making possible the mass diffusion of mobile phones and the creation of an increasingly interconnected world. Even today, more than three decades after its birth, GSM continues to be the most used mobile telecommunications system globally with a market share of 70%.
The success of the GSM standard has also laid the foundations for the development of more advanced technologies, such as UMTS (3G), LTE (4G) and, more recently, 5G. Without that Copenhagen agreement, the mobile communications landscape would probably be very different from what we know today.
