Natel

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title: "Natel" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mobile-phone-culture"] topic_path: "general/mobile-phone-culture" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natel" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/MfK_Bern_-_Natel_B,_Indelco_Compact_801625.jpg" caption="A Natel B device, released in 1980"] ::

Natel is a generic trademark used in Switzerland and in Liechtenstein for 'mobile phone'.

The word was coined in 1975, when the Swiss Postal Telegraph and Telephone introduced a mobile phone service for vehicles in Switzerland: Nationales Auto-TELefonnetz, or "National Car Telephone Network". When the PTT was dismantled in 1998, it split into two public service companies.

The telecom corporation, Swisscom, continued to develop the Swiss mobile network, and registered the word Natel as a trademark. It remains a brand of the company's mobile telephony services to this day.

In Switzerland, "Natel" is still used as a synonym for mobile (or cell) phone across the country. Like many words with origins in a specific culture, this word is unknown to French, German, and Italian speakers outside of Switzerland.

History

Analog Networks:

  • NATEL A (first subnet, 1978)
  • NATEL B (1983), another 12 kg portable suitcase radiotelephone
  • NATEL C (1987), a 1G NMT-based system with analog voice transmission and digital switching and control information

Digital Networks:

Since the liberalization of the market in 1997, two other mobile operators have appeared in Switzerland.

Natel-A 4079162.JPG|NATEL A MfK Bern - Natel B, Indelco Compact 801625.jpg|NATEL B (Indelco Compact 801625) MfK Bern - Natel C, Technophone PC 107-3.jpg|NATEL C (Technophone PC 107-3)

References

References

  1. (22 February 2017). "Swisscom gibt Bezeichnung Natel nach fast 40 Jahren auf {{!}} barfi.ch". barfi.ch.
  2. "L'italiano elvetico". ENS de Lyon.
  3. [http://drs.srf.ch/www/de/drs/81435.so-sah-das-erste-natel-aus.html ''So sah das erste Natel aus''] {{webarchive. link. (2013-10-14 Radio DRS.ch retrieved 16 October 2010.)

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mobile-phone-culture