The TeliaSonera History

1850-1859

Founding of the Royal Eletric Telegraph.

1860-1869

Telegraph connections to Europe and across the ocean

1870-1879

The first telephones arrive in Sweden and Finland.

1880-1889

Struggling for the Stockholm market.

1890-1899

Towards a telephony monopoly.

1900-1909

1903. Telephone traffic is opened to Northern Germany

1910-1919

A de facto telephony monopoly is established.

1920-1929

A first step towards an automatic telephone network.

1930-1939

The “speaking clock” is introduced.

1940-1949

Telex and Telefax is introduced.

1953

Telegrafverket changes its name to Televerket.

1956

The first automatic mobile system, MTA, was launched.

1960-1969

The first steps towards NMT.

1969

Everything mobile began in Kabelvåg.

1970-1979

The telephone network is fully automated.

1970

Joint venture to develope the digital exchange AXE.

1981

NMT 450, the Nordic Mobile Telephone network "1G" was officially inaugurated on 1 October 1981

1986

In 1986 the NMT 900 system was opened in the 900 MHz band.

1986

Dramatic GSM battle in Paris.

1990 Internet was founded

Internet was founded.

The Baltic market

Entering the Baltic market.

The first GSM call

On july 1, 1991 the first GSM call was made

Killing the monopolies

GSM killed the monopoly in every country in Europe.

Creation of Telia

The Swedish Telecommunications administration, Televerket, was converted to Telia AB

Lars Berg

1994 - Lars Berg assigned new CEO

Creation of Sonera

In 1994 Telecom Finland was founded. A couple of years later the company's name was changed to Sonera.

The European Union

Sweden and Finland join the European Union. Short message service SMS is launched.

Passagen

The Internet portal “Passagen” is introduced.

Telia North America started

Telecom Finland becomes Sonera

The aborted merger with Telenor

In 1999, after many discussions, it is clear that Telia and Telenor will go separate ways.

Mobile headquarter brings down the merger

Disagreement regarding the location of the mobile headquarters triggers the downfall of the merger.

The IT-bubble

Majority ownership in NetCom.

Stock exchange introduction (Telia)

In 2000 Telia was introduced at the Stockholm Stock Exchange.

Crisis

Crisis at Sonera

Telia + Sonera = TeliaSonera

In 2002 Swedish Telia and Finnish Sonera together formed TeliaSonera.

Continued drama

Despite the fact that the principal owners had now made the fundamental decisions, things continued to be highly dramatic throughout 2002.

3G

3G is launched

IP-connections

IP telephony and IP-TV

Digital TV

In Sweden digital TV replaces analog broadcasts

Lars Nyberg

Lars Nyberg is assigned new CEO.

4G

4G is launched