The First Mobile Phone Calls In South Africa - How It All Began

However, it would be another three years before South Africans would be able to make phone calls from a handheld mobile device as opposed to the fixed-line telephones that dominated the telecommunications landscape at the time.

In 1993, two network operating licences were issued for commercial network services, with the first going to Vodacom - a joint venture involving state-owned Telkom, UK telecommunications giant Vodafone and Johann Rupert-linked investment firm VenFin.

Although there were many months of trials of the technology, Vodacom officially launched its commercial services on 1 June 1994 - with rival MTN following soon thereafter.

"The first commercial site carrying customer traffic was in Bronberg in Pretoria," a Vodacom spokesman told TechCentral this week. "Motorola and Ericsson test sample devices were used to make the first call."

Andre Prinsloo, who travelled from Johannesburg, played an instrumental role in activating the site with Nutt. Dick Edwards, at the time the regional network manager for the Western Cape at Cable Wireless, was another key member of the team.