15 Years ago, the first SMS was sent via the Vodafone network. Papworth sent the text on 3 December using a PC terminal and traditional keyboard, while the recipient, Vodafone’s Richard Jarvis, received the message using an Orbitel 901 handset. Well these days, Australia alone sends 2.61 Billion SMS a year via the Telstra network, so these are taken for granted.

“I can remember the event, being there, typing [the message] in and getting confirmation that it had got through. But I wasn’t the chosen one or anything like that. Eventually the time came when we had to take the system down to Vodafone to plug it in and get it working on the live network. Because I’d been working on the interface stuff it made sense for me to go down and do it,” Papworth said.