

SIM card issued to celebrate the inception of the new South Africa and the switch-on of the Vodacom mobile phone network, made by Vodacom, South Africa, 1994.
GSM stands for Global System for Mobile Communications (originally Groups Spécial Mobile), which was a European standard for early mobile networks, meaning that subscribers could use their phones across the whole of Europe. A key feature of GSM was the Subscriber Identity Module, commonly known as a SIM card. This is an early South African SIM card, and shows how the standards spread across the globe. The design on the card celebrates the new post-apartheid South Africa and the launch of the Vodacom Network in June 1994.
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Science Museum: Information Age Gallery: Cell
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Details
- Category:
- Telecommunications
- Object Number:
- 2014-96
- Materials:
- electronic components and plastic (unidentified)
- taxonomy:
-
- component - object
- telephone
- mobile telephone
- credit:
- Donated by Alan Hadden
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