నిమిషానికి ₹16 కాల్ నుంచి 5జీ వరకు: భారత్‌లో మొబైల్ ఫోన్ కథ

From ₹16-a-minute calls to 5G: The story of the mobile phone in India

Today, even a grandmother selling vegetables in the village accepts payments through UPI. But thirty years ago, a mobile phone was a luxury for the rich. Let's find out how this change happened.

First call — July 31, 1995

The first mobile phone call in India was made on July 31, 1995. West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu called the then Union Telecom Minister Sukhram in Delhi from Kolkata. The call was made on the network of a company called Modi Telstra, using a Nokia handset.

Call prices back then were staggering. Outgoing calls cost around ₹16 per minute, and incoming calls were also charged. A handset cost over ₹10,000. That's why for the first few years, mobile phones remained in the hands of traders and officials.

The period of falling prices (1999–2005)

The new telecom policy introduced in 1999 replaced license fees with revenue sharing. This reduced the burden on companies and brought down prices. Incoming calls became free around 2003 — a major turning point. Reliance Infocomm introduced low-cost phones and call rates with the slogan "Karlo Duniya Mutti Mein". Competition increased between Airtel, Hutch (later Vodafone), Idea and BSNL. Prepaid recharge cards reached even small shops.

The Nokia era

In the 2000s, it was like saying "Mobile means Nokia". Models like the Nokia 1100 and 3310 were very popular in rural India due to their ruggedness, long battery life, and flashlight. There is hardly anyone who has not played the game "Snake". SMS packs are a big attraction for the youth.

3G, smartphone (2010–2015)

In 2010, the 3G spectrum auction took place. At the same time, with the advent of Android phones, the phone became not just a talking device, but a small computer. Indian brands like Micromax, Karbonn, and Lava launched smartphones at low prices. Later, Chinese brands like Xiaomi entered the market. WhatsApp replaced SMS. But data was still expensive — hundreds of rupees per GB.

Geo Revolution (2016)

Reliance Jio was launched in September 2016. It offered free calls and free data for a few months. Later, it also offered data at very low prices. This led to an unexpected increase in data usage in the country. YouTube, OTT, online education, and digital payments reached the villages. At the same time, unable to withstand the competition, some companies merged and others closed down.

5G era (from 2022)

5G services were launched in the country on October 1, 2022. They were first available in major cities including Hyderabad. Along with fast internet, new opportunities like smart factories and telemedicine are opening up.

Impact on Telugu states

The mobile revolution has changed Telugu society immensely. Video calls with family members working in the Gulf countries, market prices for farmers, online coaching for students, Telugu YouTube channels, digital news media — all of this has been made possible by mobile.

Conclusion

In thirty years, the phone has gone from a luxury to a necessity. Now the challenge is different — cyber fraud, screen addiction, fake news. The lesson the next generation needs to learn is to use technology wisely.

Photo: Sristhid / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)