GK On Telecommunication Of India: History And Current Affairs

Last Updated: 4 February 2023

Do you know China is the King of the Telecommunication Networks in the World?

India’s is nonetheless than China. It has the second-largest telecommunication network in the world by the number of telephone users for both fixed and mobile phones.

India has 1.2 billion subscribers as of 31 Dec 2019. It has the world’s second-largest Internet user base with 662 million broadband internet subscribers. The telecom companies in India offer one of the lowest call-tariffs in the world enabled by mega telecom operators and hyper-competition among them.

The telephone, internet, and television broadcast industry are the major sectors of the Indian Telecommunication Industry.

GK On Telecommunication Of India

1. First Landline Telephone in India?

Answer: 28th January 1882

2. When did the first Experimental Electric Telegraph Line start?

Answer: 1850
It started between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour.

3. Where was the first formal Telephone Service established in India?

Answer: Madras, Bombay, Ahmedabad, and Calcutta

4. Where was the first Wireless Telegraph Station established?

Answer: Between Sagar Island and Sandhead in 1902

5. First Automatic Telephone Exchange was installed in?

Answer: Shimla (1913)

6. Where was the First Central Battery of Telephones introduced?

Answer: Kanpur

7. First Telecommunication system between the UK and India?

Answer: Radiotelephone system (1933)

8. When was the Internet First Introduced in India?

Answer: 15 August 1995 (Laxmi Nagar, Delhi)

9. When did the First Mobile Telephone service start on a non-commercial basis?

Answer: 15 August 1995 in Delhi

10. Where was the First satellite Earth Station for domestic communications established?

Answer: Sikandrabad, Uttar Pradesh

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11. Where was the First Optical Fibre System Commissioned?

Answer: Pune (1979)

12. Who manufactured the first Electronic Telephone Exchanges in India?

Answer: Centre for Development of Telematics(C-DOT)

13. Which College started the first Electronics & Telecommunications Engineering Department?

Answer: Government Engineering College, Jabalpur in 1947

14. India’s first Cellular service?

Answer: Modi Telstra’s MobileNet service (later branded as Spice)

15. Who made the first Mobile Phone Call in India?

Answer: Jyoti Basu
Explanation: Jyoti Basu was the Chief Minister of West Bengal during that time and made the first mobile phone call to Union Telecom Minister Sukhram on 31st July 1995.

16. The first city in India to cross the Mobile Penetration Milestone of 100 mobile connections per 100 people?

Answer: Thiruvananthapuram in 2014 (Commonly called Trivandrum)

17. How many Telecom Circles does India have?

Answer: 23

18. How many subscribers did the first Formal Telephone Service have?

Answer: 93 subscribers

19. In 1975 who was responsible for Telecom Services in India?

Answer: Department of Telecom (DoT)

20. The Government of India renamed the Department of Telecom (DoT) as?

Answer: Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)

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21. Full form of VSNL and MTNL?

Answer: VSNL: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited
MTNL: Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited

22. Which important day was it when the First Mobile Telephone service started on a non-commercial basis?

Answer: 48th Independence Day

23. When was the First Cellular Call made in India?

Answer: July 31st, 1995

24. First GSM network in India?

Answer: 1992

25. First 3G Mobile service provider in India?

Answer: MTNL

26. When have 3G-enabled Mobile and Data services been launched by Government-owned MTNL?

Answer: 11 December 2008

27. When did BSNL Mobile launch its first 3G services in India?

Answer: On 27 February 2010 (Chennai and Kolkata)

28. The first Telecom Company to make incoming charges free in India?

Answer: BSNL

29. Who invented the first Telephone Exchange?

Answer: Tivadar Puskás (1877)

30. India’s first Mobile Network?

Answer: CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)
Explanation: Modi Telstra’s MobileNet service started the CDMA network in Kolkata.

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31. Full form of EDGE?

Answer: Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution

32. First Mobile Phone in India?

Answer: Nokia Ringo (1995)
Nokia Ringo First Mobile Phone in India
Dimension: 152 x 55 x 33mm
Mass: 235g
Battery: 900 mAh

33. Which Mobile Phone introduced the first-ever “Saare Jahan Se Accha” ringtone that became popular all over India?

Answer: Nokia 5110 in 1998

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34. Full form of HSDPA?

Answer: High Speed Downlink Packet Access

35. When did MobiNet (Modi Telstra’s) launch its first service?

Answer: 31st July 1995

36. First SIM card in India?

Answer: MobiNet

37. India’s first Mobile Network provider?

Answer: BPL Mobile Communications
Explanation: It was established in 1994. They changed their brand name to Loop Mobile later

38. Who is the inventor of the First Practical Mobile Phone?

Answer: Dr. Martin Cooper

39. Which company made the first handheld Mobile phone?

Answer: Motorola
Motorola researcher Martin Cooper made the first handheld Mobile phone on April 3, 1973. The handheld prototype phone weighed 1.1 kilograms and measured 23x13x4.5 cm. The phone offered a talk time of just 30 min and took 10 hours to recharge.

40. The first SmartPhone that used the Android platform?

Answer: HTC Dream (launched on 22 October 2008)

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41. PCM Full form in Telecommunication?

Answer: Pulse-code modulation

42. When was the first 1g network launched?

Answer: 1 December 1979
Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Company (NTT) launched the first commercial 1G mobile network for the whole world in Tokyo, Japan.

43. World’s largest individual mobile operator?

Answer: China Mobile

44. First Internet Services provider in India?

Answer: VSNL (Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited) in 1995
Laxmi Nagar in Delhi was the first region in India to be served with the Internet Services

45. The first camera phone in India?

Answer: Nokia 7650
It was launched in 2002. Nokia 7650 had a 0.3-megapixel camera that could transmit photos using GPRS, Bluetooth, and Infrared.

46. When did India receive its first 4G network?

Answer: 10 April 2012

47. When did Reliance Jio launch its first 4G services?

Answer: 5 September 2016
Explanation: Jio with its rock-bottom prices and focus on mobile data consumption started a price war among other telecom company

48. First Android Smartphone in India?

Answer: HTC Dream
It came to India in 2008. HTC Dream was the first Linux-based Android Operating System. The device ran on Android 1.0 with a 528 MHz Qualcomm CPU processor. It had 256 MB ROM, 192 MB RAM, and expandable up to 16GB of microSD storage.

49. First Touch Screen Mobile phone in India?

Answer: Nokia 7710 (2 November 2002)

50. Which Telecom Network in India has HSDPA technology?

Answer: BSNL and MTNL
HSDPA is a technology based on a 3G network that can support speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps.

51. India’s telecom regulator?

Answer: TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India)

52. Which position India ranks in the world by the number of phone users?

Answer: Second
*First is China and the third is Indonesia

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53. Which company launched the first Mobile Phone in India?

Answer: Nokia (1995)

54. First AI-enabled phone in India?

Answer: Huawei

55. TIISCS Full form?

Answer: Tata Indicom India-Singapore Cable System

56. FLAG Full form in Telecommunication?

Answer: Fibre-Optic Link Around the Globe

57. When did Reliance Communications discontinue its wireless voice services?

Answer: 29 December 2017

58. Which two Government-owned companies provided landline phone services before the New Telecom Policy was announced in 1999?

Answer: BSNL and MTNL

59. What is the Country code for India?

Answer: 91

60. Telecommunications in India began with the introduction of?

Answer: Telegraph

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61. Full form of PCO, ISD, and STD?

Answer: PCO: Public Call Office
ISD: International Subscriber Dialing
STD: Subscriber Trunk Dialing

62. When and where was the first Internet cafe started in India?

Answer: BSNL’s Bhopal Unit started the first Internet café on optical fiber

63. Which company installed PCOs in India?

Answer: BSNL

64. When were PCOs launched in India?

Answer: Early 1990’s

65. First Telecom Minister of India?

Answer: Shri Rafi Ahmed Kidwai (15 August 1947-2 August 1951)

66. Present Telecom Minister of India?

Answer: Ravi Shankar Prasad,

67. Major Telecom Companies in India and their establishment date?

Answer:
1) BSNL: 15 September 2000
2) MTNL: 1 April 1986
3) Airtel: 7 July 1995
4) Vodafone Idea: 31 August 2018
5) Jio: 15 February 2007