in the future....

"First Generation" refers to the analog systems that were developed and implemented throughout the 1980s, and which had become quite mature and widespread by the early 1990s. The predominant analog systems have been AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service). TACS (Total Access Communications System) and NMT (Nordic Mobile Telephone). Other analog standards were usually implemented in a limited geographic region, and often on a limited basis. An example of this is the analog system developed by NTT, which has only been implemented in Japan.

Many improvements have been made to the analog systems during the 1990s, One such improvement is Motorola's development of Narrowband AMPS (NAMPS), which increased system capacity and added digital messaging capability. Another improvement is the implementation of six sector systems, which increased system capacity through increased frequency reuse. Although improvements such as these have provided tremendous benefits to operators around the world, the impact on subscribers has been minor. These improvements certainly did not represent a "next generation" of cellular.