ATC India's Umang Das recalls the day India's mobile revolution began

India's telecom revolution started with then West Bengal CM Jyoti Basu saying the first 'hello' to then Union communications minister Sukh Ram in a Kolkata hotel

A mobile revolution was unimaginable when Jyoti Basu as West Bengal chief minister made the first mobile call to Sukh Ram, then Union communications minister, on July 31, 1995.

The setting for the historic call was plush – a room in Kolkata’s Grand Hotel. There was Mr Basu with our general manager holding a special Nokia phone. In Delhi, Sukh Ram held a similar phone. With crystal clear voice quality, those first two ‘hellos’ went down in history as a milestone.

Yet history happened by accident. At that time, I was the CEO of Modi Telstra (later branded as Spice)