Editing GSM (section)

===Initial European development===
[[File:Dupuis Haug GSM around 1990.jpg|thumb|Thomas Haug (first GSM president) and Philippe Dupuis (second GSM president) during a GSM meeting in Belgium, April 1992]]
In 1983, work began to develop a European standard for digital cellular voice telecommunications when the [[European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations]] (CEPT) set up the ''Groupe Spécial Mobile'' (GSM) committee and later provided a permanent technical-support group based in [[Paris]]. Five years later, in 1987, 15 representatives from 13 European countries signed a [[memorandum of understanding]] in [[Copenhagen]] to develop and deploy a common cellular telephone system across Europe, and EU rules were passed to make GSM a mandatory standard.<ref>{{Cite web |title=GSM (2nd Generation Mobiles) |url=http://www.cellular-news.com/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130070716/https://www.engagingwithcommunications.com/Technology/Mobiles/GSM/gsm.php |archive-date=2023-01-30 |access-date=2023-05-23 |website=Engaging with Communications}}</ref> The decision to develop a continental standard eventually resulted in a unified, open, standard-based network which was larger than that in the United States.<ref name=zdnet_birthday>{{cite web|url=http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/mobile-devices/2007/09/07/happy-20th-birthday-gsm-39289154/ |title=Happy 20th Birthday, GSM |author=Leader |date=7 September 2007 |work=zdnet.co.uk |publisher=CBS Interactive |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20110505004052/http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/mobile-devices/2007/09/07/happy-20th-birthday-gsm-39289154/ |archivedate=5 May 2011 |accessdate=5 May 2011 |quote=Before GSM, Europe had a disastrous mishmash of national analogue standards in phones and TV, designed to protect national industries but instead creating fragmented markets vulnerable to big guns from abroad. |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=etsi_gsm>{{cite web|url=http://www.etsi.org/WebSite/Technologies/gsm.aspx |title=GSM |year=2011 |work=etsi.org |publisher=European Telecommunications Standards Institute |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211060002/http://www.etsi.org/WebSite/technologies/gsm.aspx |archivedate=11 February 2012 |accessdate=5 May 2011 |quote=GSM was designed principally for voice telephony, but a range of bearer services was defined...allowing circuit-switched data connections at up to 9600 bits/s. |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=gsmworld_history>{{cite web|url=http://www.gsmworld.com/about-us/history.htm |title=History |year=2001 |work=gsmworld.com |publisher=GSM Association |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519093843/http://gsmworld.com/about-us/history.htm |archivedate=19 May 2011 |accessdate=5 May 2011 |quote=1982 Groupe Speciale Mobile (GSM) is formed by the Confederation of European Posts and Telecommunications (CEPT) to design a pan-European mobile technology. |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=etsi_cellhist>{{cite web|url=http://www.etsi.org/WebSite/Technologies/Cellularhistory.aspx |title=Cellular History |year=2011 |work=etsi.org |publisher=European Telecommunications Standards Institute |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217044925/http://www.etsi.org/WebSite/Technologies/Cellularhistory.aspx |archivedate=17 February 2012 |accessdate=5 May 2011 |quote=The task was entrusted to a committee known as Groupe Spécial Mobile (GSMTM), aided by a "permanent nucleus" of technical support personnel, based in Paris. |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In February 1987 Europe produced the first agreed GSM Technical Specification. Ministers from {{clarify|text=the four big EU countries |date=May 2025}} cemented their political support for GSM with the Bonn Declaration on Global Information Networks in May and the GSM [[memorandum of understanding|MoU]] was tabled for signature in September. The MoU drew in mobile operators from across Europe to pledge to invest in new GSM networks to an ambitious common date.

In this short 38-week period the whole of Europe (countries and industries) had been brought behind GSM in a rare unity and speed guided by four public officials: Armin Silberhorn (Germany), Stephen Temple (UK), [[Philippe Dupuis (engineer)|Philippe Dupuis]] (France), and Renzo Failli (Italy).<ref>{{cite web|title= Who created GSM?|date= 7 January 2007 |url= http://www.gsmhistory.com/created-gsm/ |publisher= Stephen Temple|accessdate= 7 April 2013
|quote= Before GSM, Europe had a disastrous mishmash of national analogue standards in phones and TV, designed to protect national industries but instead creating fragmented markets vulnerable to big guns from abroad.}}</ref> In 1989 the Groupe Spécial Mobile committee was transferred from CEPT to the [[European Telecommunications Standards Institute]] (ETSI).<ref name="etsi_gsm"/><ref name="gsmworld_history"/><ref name="etsi_cellhist"/>
The IEEE/RSE awarded to [[Thomas Haug]] and [[Philippe Dupuis (engineer)|Philippe Dupuis]] the 2018 [[IEEE/RSE James Clerk Maxwell Medal|James Clerk Maxwell medal]] for their "leadership in the development of the first international mobile communications standard with subsequent evolution into worldwide smartphone data communication".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ieee-ukandireland.org/duke-of-cambridge-presents-maxwell-medals-to-gsm-developers/|title=Duke of Cambridge Presents Maxwell Medals to GSM Developers|publisher= IEEE United Kingdom and Ireland Section|date= 2018-09-01|access-date= 2020-12-10}}</ref> The GSM (2G) has evolved into 3G, 4G and 5G.