The history of Elisa reflects the changes in Finnish society. The Helsinki Telephone Association was founded in 1882, and telecommunications have become part of the everyday life of Finns in 127 years. In Finland, Elisa has been a forerunner in almost every aspect of telecommunications technology. Click on the links, to read more about Elisa’s eventful history.
In the field of digital mobile communications, Elisa has been a forerunner in both Finland and internationally. Radiolinja, a subsidiary of Elisa at the time, transmitted the world’s first GSM phone call and launched the first commercial GSM service in 1991. The first GSM data call also took place on Radiolinja’s network in 1993. In 2007, Elisa once again made telecommunications history, being the first operator in the world to introduce an UMTS900 network for commercial use. In 2008, as confirmed by research, Elisa's fast 3G network was comprehensive in Finland.
Today Elisa Corporation is a leading Nordic communications services provider and a publicly listed Eurotop-500 company, with operations in the Nordic countries, the Baltics and Russia. We serve some 2 million consumers regionally and around 150,000 enterprises and entrepreneurs internationally, offering a wide range of subscriptions with services. We provide experiences for people and enhance productivity for organisations online. Elisa focuses on developing consumer and corporate ICT and online services.