Question: when was the first mobile phone text message sent
Answer: SMS messaging was used for the first time on 3 December 1992 , when Neil Papworth , a 22 - year - old test engineer for Sema Group in the UK ( now Airwide Solutions ) , used a personal computer to send the text message `` Merry Christmas '' via the Vodafone network to the phone of Richard Jarvis who was at a party in Newbury , Berkshire which had been organised to celebrate the event .