ailable channels. This caused problems as few people had access to them. In fact in the 1970s there were typically many times more people on the waiting list for these early mobile phones than were actually 'connected' and able to use them. 248 Newnes Guide to Radio and Communications Technology In the late 1960s and early 1970s a number of countries started to consider seriously the possibility of a cellular telecommunications system. In Japan, for example, the Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Company proposed a nationwide cellular system at 800 MHz. In Finland ideas also started to move forward. Then in the USA, the Bell Telephone Laboratories submitted a patent proposal in December 1970. The next major development occurred in 1969 when a radio telephone system employing frequency reuse was used aboard a train. A total of six channels in several zones were used along the route that spanned over 200 miles with the system under computer control. However, it took until 1975 before the FCC gave approval for Bell to start a trial system, and two more years before it was allowed to operate. Not surprisingly the development of a new technology cost very significant amounts, many millions of dollars were spent, and eventually systems started to be seen. In fact the first development cellular telephone system began operation in May 1978 in Bahrain. Although relatively simple in some respects, the system had two cells and about 250 subscribers. However, development in the USA was moved ahead very swiftly and two months later in July 1978 the Advanced Mobile Phone Service (AMPS) commenced operation around Chicago. Initially the system was trialled using Bell employees, but in December of that year paying customers started to use the system. Then it took until 1983 before full commercialization of the system took place in the USA. However, the first mobile phone system to be launched commercially was the Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) which was launched in 1980 using a band of frequencies at 450 MHz. Development in many parts