22 March 1984: the Vodafone name is unveiled for the first time. Although now a multinational household name, at the time, Vodafone was a little-known part of the now-defunct specialist electronics group, Racal.
40 years later and the Nation’s Network now has 18.6 million customers in the UK. This journey, from start-up to being an essential part of our daily lives, is inextricably tied to Vodafone’s many technological ‘firsts’ in the UK, such as:
The first cellular telephone call
Britain’s first ever mobile phone call was made at midnight on 1 January 1985 as Michael Harrison, the son of former Vodafone Chairman Sir Ernest Harrison, snuck out of the family’s New Year’s Eve party to secretly call his father from London’s Parliament Square.
The historic call was made on one of the first mobile handsets, a Vodafone Transportable VT1, which boasted around 30-45 minutes of talk time and weighed in at a whopping 5.5kg.
A few days later, comedian Ernie Wise followed up by making the first public mobile phone call to the original Vodafone headquarters in Newbury, watched by a crowd at St Katherine’s Dock in London.
Sent from a computer on 3 December, the message – which read ‘Merry Christmas’ – was received by the Orbitel 901 handset of Richard Jarvis, a director at Vodafone at the time, as he enjoyed his office Christmas party.
Though SMS usage has since taken a backseat role due to the increase of social media and messaging apps, more than 31 billion messages were sent in the UK alone throughout 2023.
Other icons turning 40 this year include:
Credits: Adobe Stock
The Apple Macintosh 128K was first introduced on 24 January 1984, having featured in a Super Bowl television advert.
Credits: Adobe Stock
Canadian entertainment company Cirque du Soleil was founded in Quebec, Canada, on 16 June 1984.
Credits: Sound Opinions
Prince's No.1 album 'Purple Rain' was released on 25 June 1984 - the sixth studio album from the American singer-songwriter.
Credits: E. J. Hersom
Prince Harry turned 40 on 15 September 2024.
Credits: georgeownesfx
The British children's television series, 'Thomas & Friends', first aired on 9 October 1984.
Credits: Prayitno
Hollywood blockbuster 'The Terminator', featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger, was released on October 26 1984.
Credits: All-Pro Reels
NBA player Lebron James, who recently played alongside his son for the LA Lakers, turns 40 on 30 December 2024.
The first international roaming agreement
1992 also saw Vodafone and Telecom Finland sign the world’s first international Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) roaming agreement, having made the first international roaming call in 1991.
This marked a breakthrough moment for cross-border communications since, prior to that, phones simply did not work when taken abroad.
The first 3G licences and voice call
Fast forward to 17 April 2001 and Vodafone officially became the first to make a third-generation (3G) mobile phone call from a real network in the UK.
Promising high-speed access to internet services, including downloading video clips, 3G would go on to become a standard bearer for mobile connectivity.
Almost 23 years later, however, Vodafone UK announced that the switch off of its 3G network was complete, with 4G and 5G services now taking priority.
The first holographic call
With 5G developments making headway, 2018 marked another first for Vodafone, with the company conducting the UK’s first live holographical call from its Manchester office.
Featuring former England football international Steph Houghton, the call used 5G technology to have Houghton appear as a 3D hologram for a live audience at Vodafone’s Newbury headquarters.
Today, Vodafone has committed to continue rolling out its 5G Standalone (5G SA) infrastructure across every corner of the UK, as part of its proposed merger with Three UK.
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