Sukh Ram, the man who received India's first-ever mobile call

On a trip to Japan as Cabinet Minister for Telecommunications, Sukh Ram saw his chauffeur carrying a mobile phone in his pocket. This got him thinking that if Japan could have the technology, why can't India.

Shimla: Veteran Congress leader from Himachal Pradesh and former Union minister Sukh Ram, who made India reach a historic milestone by receiving the first-ever mobile phone call, died early Wednesday at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi. He was 94.

Sukh Ram, erstwhile Union Telecom Minister, and Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu chatted in India's first-ever mobile call, 27 years ago, on 31st July 1995. The call was made on Nokia phones, allegedly the Nokia Ringo, on the first mobile telecom network, Modi Telstra. This call was made from Kolkata's 'Writers' Buildings' by Joyti Basu to Sukh Ram in Delhi's 'Sanchar Bhavan'.

Interestingly, reports state that back then, the initial phone call rates ranged from Rs 8.4 per minute for both outgoing and incoming calls, and in peak mobile phone traffic hours, the cost also went up to Rs 16.8 per minute.

On a trip to Japan as Cabinet Minister for Telecommunications, Sukh Ram saw his chauffeur carrying a mobile phone in his pocket. This got him thinking that if Japan could have the technology, why can't India.

He had served in the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology from 1993 to 1996. The former Lok Sabha member from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi constituency was a five-time MLA in Himachal Pradesh Assembly and had won the Lok Sabha elections thrice.