Paying Rs 16 to receive calls to ultra-cheap data: 30 years of India's mobile journey India's first mobile call, 30 years ago, marked the start of a journey that turned a luxury product into an everyday gadget. From paying to even receive calls, to super-cheap data, India has seen a telecom revolution. With over 1.2 billion connections, mobile phones have become India's bank, classroom, television and lifeline. On July 31, 1995, a phone call between Union Telecom Minister Sukh Ram in Delhi and West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu in Kolkata opened India to mobile telephony. The call was brief and ceremonial, but it marked the beginning of a journey that would redefine how the country lived, worked and connected. Thirty years later, on July 31, 2025, the anniversary of that first call is a reminder of how an elite luxury turned into the backbone of everyday life for more than a billion people. India's mobile networks began with Modi Telstra’s GSM service in 1995, limite...