Nokia celebrates 30th anniversary of world’s first GSM call and teases 6G

On July 1, Nokia celebrated the 30th anniversary of the world’s first GSM call, which took place in its home country of Finland in 1991.

The call, which lasted around three minutes, took place between former Finnish prime minister Harri Holkeri and Tampere deputy mayor Kaarina Suonio.

However, while the call is not considered long enough, according to current Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark, it took them two years of hard work and sleepless nights for this call to take place.

Meanwhile, Lundmark was working for Radiolinja (now Elisa), as an account manager. Radiolinja is Nokia’s customer for GSM technology, which puts it at the forefront of the GSM race.

According to Lundmark, they were working around the clock, so much so that he said he looked like a zombie and his colleagues started calling him “Chief Worrier”.

You can read CEO Pekka Lundmark’s funny story here.

Regardless, Nokia has also uploaded a video to its social media, showing all the events and contributions that have happened after that first GSM / 2G call that changed the world.

And while we’re still halfway through the 5G race, the company is already teasing 6G for years to come.

Watch the video below.