Which company launched the world's first commercial cellular network in Tokyo in 1979? The answer is NTT.
NTT launched the world’s first commercial cellular network in Tokyo in 1979. More precisely, the service began on December 3, 1979, under Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation, the state telecommunications organization that preceded the modern Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, or NTT.
The first-generation system used analog technology and operated in the 800 MHz band. Its initial service area covered Tokyo’s 23 wards, and the service was primarily a car-phone system rather than the compact handheld smartphone service people associate with cellular networks today. Cellular design divided the coverage area into radio cells, allowing frequencies to be reused and supporting more simultaneous calls.
This milestone is often confused with the first handheld mobile-phone demonstration. Motorola engineers Martin Cooper and John F. Mitchell demonstrated a handheld cellular phone in 1973, but Motorola did not launch the first U.S. commercial 1G network; Ameritech introduced AMPS in Chicago in 1983. NTT’s Japanese network was the earlier commercial cellular deployment, and it expanded nationwide within about five years.