Stephen Fry on the Phone: Episode 1 - Creating a Network

Stephen Fry meets the brains behind the mobile phone. There are more mobile phones in the world than there are people on the planet: In this first episode, Stephen Fry explores the creation of the mobile phone network. Richard Frenkiel, a Bell Labs engineer, who created the cellular networks on which all mobile phones depend, was himself never particularly interested in having a cellphone. His wife bought him his first mobile, just three years ago. In the eighties Vodafone competed fiercely with the BT's mobile baby, Cellnet, to create the first mobile phone network in the UK. Thanks to Margaret Thatcher opening up the airwaves, Britain became a world leader in mobile phone technology. Produced by Anna Buckley.