Timeline of telephony in Norway

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This is a timeline of telephony in Norway, attempting to describe important events related to the development of the telephony in the country. Much of the history of telephony in Norway is the history of Telenor, which provides telecommunications in the country since 1855.

Big picture

Time period Development summary
1850s The telegraph service is introduced in Norway, upon the foundation of Telegrafvæsenet.
1880s The development of the telephone service starts in Norway.[1]
1930 The telephone is introduced in Norway. The original company Telegrafvæsenet is now Telegrafverket.
1970s Norway progresses to its first computer- controlled phone exchange by the mid decade and launches a national satellite system (NORSAT) linking North Sea oil explorers with Norway's mainland.[2] Telegrafverket is now Televerket.
1980s The Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT), the world’s first fully automatic mobile phone system, is launched in the country.
1990s Norway enters the decade with the highest rate of mobile communications penetration in the world. The country also becomes one of the first with a fully digitalized telecommunications network. Televerket becomes Telenor.
2000s Telenor emerges as one of the most geographically diversified of Europe's major telecom groups.[3]


Full timeline

Year Event type Details
1855 Organization Telegrafvæsenet begins as a state-operated monopoly provider of telegraph services. The first telegraph line is opened in Norway and the Norwegian Telegraph Administration is created.[4][5]
1857 Organization Telegrafvæsenet changes its name to Den norske Statstelegraf.[5]
1867 Network A cable connection to Denmark is established.[6]
1869 Network A cable connection to the United Kingdom is established.[6]
1870 Network The telegraph reaches Vardø in northern Norway and thus the whole country is covered in longitude.[6]
1877 Technology The first known public demonstration of the Bell phone in Norway takes place in Bergen in June.[6]
1878 Network The towns of Arendal and Tvedestrand are connected with a telephone line.[6]
1880 Technology The first official telephone exchange opens in Norway.[7] Telephone systems are installed in the country.[4] The international Bell Company begins telephone traffic in Oslo.[6]
1886 Organization Bell and Christiania Telefonforening merge into the company Christiania Telefonselskap.[6]
1893 Network A telephone connection is established between Oslo and Stockholm.[8][6]
1893 Coverage Norway is already one of the countries with the highest density of telephones per habitant in the world.[7]
1896 Organization Den norske Statstelegraf changes its name to Den Norske Rikstelegraf.[5]
1900 Organization Den Norske Rikstelegraf changes its name to Det Norske Telegrafvæsen.[5]
1901 Policy The Telegraph Act is passed, giving the Norwegian state exclusive rights to run telephone services in the country.[7]
1905 Organization Det Norske Telegrafvæsen changes its name to Norges Telegrafvæsen.[5]
1906 Network Different parts of the country become connected by radio telegraphy for the first time.[8]
1909 Service An office phone reception service is established.[6]
1918 Technology The first automatic telephone exchange is established.[6]
1920 Scandinavia's first automatic telephone switch is established in Skien.[8] Automation of telephone systems begins in the country.[6]
1920 Organization Norges Telegrafvæsen changes its name to Norges Telegrafvesen.[5]
1928 Infrastructure Telephone connection opens between Norway and the United States.[7]
1932 Infrastructure The first red telephone booths are introduced Norway.[6][7]
1932 Organization Norges Telegrafvesen changes its name to Telegrafverket.[5]
1932 Technology The "speaking" clock (known to all as "Miss Clock") is introduced in Norway as a new and popular telephone service.[6][7]
1946 Service A telecommunications service is established.[6]
1955 Coverage Norway has 27 coast radio stations, 12 being equipped with radiotelephony and 15 being equipped with both radiotelegraphy and radiotelephony.[9]
1965 Network Satellite telephone connection opens between Norway and the United States.[7]
1966 Network Direct international distance dialling from Norway is enabled.[7]
1966 System A manual mobile phone system (OLT-Offentlig landmobiltjeneste [public land mobile service]) is introduced in Norway.[8][10][7][11]
1969 Organization Nordic Telephone companies join to create the NMT standard (1G). Cooperation between the Nordic countries creates a common standard resulting in Nordic Mobile Telephony (NMT).[7]
1969 Organization The Norwegian Telegraph Administration (Telegrafverket) changes its name to Norwegian Telecommunications (Televerket).[7]
1974 Organization Andebu Telephone Association, the last private telephone company in Norway, is taken over by Norwegian Telecom (Televerket).[7]
1975 Technology NMT is approved as a technical standard at the Nordic Telecommunications Conference.[11]
1976 Network Televerket opens satellite connection from mainland to oil installations in the North Sea.[6]
1979 94,000 names in the country are on the waiting list for a phone subscription.[7]
1981 Technology The telefax is introduced in Norway.[12]
1981 Network The Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT), the world’s first fully automatic mobile phone system, is launched in Oslo.[6][11][7]
1983 Organization Alcatel Telecom Norway STK (a Norwegian company then owned by ITT) is chosen to be the developer and supplier of the digital network in Norway.[13]
1985 Coverage The NMT system coverage reaches the entire country.[11] The Norwegian telephone network is completed.[6] Automation of the Norwegian telecommunications network is completed.[7]
1988 Coverage Norway has the world’s highest density of mobile phones with 33 units per 1000 inhabitants. Sweden and Iceland rank in second place with 24 per 1000.[11][11]
1988 Policy The end of monopoly of sale of telephone sets is mandated in Norway.[7]
1989 Coverage Norway has the highest rate of mobile communications penetration in the world, with 32 subscribers per 1000 persons.[14]
1993 Organization Norwegian mobile phone operator Telia Norge is founded as NetCom AS.[15][16]
1993 Network Televerket launches GSM system in the country, setting a new international standard (2G).[7]
1994 Network ISDN (broadband) is introduced in Norway.[7]
1994 Organization Televerket becomes a public corporation.[17][18][7]
1995 Organization Televerket (Norwegian Telecommunications) changes its name to Telenor.[7]
1997 The Norwegian telecommunications network is fully digitalized, one of the first in the world.[7]
1998 Product Telenor launches the first of its IP telephony products in Norway.[7]
1998 Policy The Norwegian telecommunications market opens up to full competition, marking the end of Telenor monopoly in Norway.[7]
1999 Organization Norwegian mobile virtual network operator Chess Communication is founded.[19]
1999 (December 16) Organization The Norwegian and Swedish states decide to intervene in the merger of Telenor and Telia Company. Mobile service WAP is introduced.[20]
2000 Organization Telenor is partially privatized.[17][21][22]
2000 Organization Tele2 becomes operational. It is the first service provider to offer pre-paid cards in Norway.[23]
2000 (April) Service Netcom AB announces the launch of mobile telephony services in Norway.[16]
2001 (November) Service Mobile number portability is introduced in Norway.[20][24]
2002 Facility The new Telenor Group headquarters opens at Fornebu.[7]
2002 System The first trial of UMTS (3G) takes place in the country.[7]
2003 Network Fibre optic cable connects Svalbard with the mainland.[7]
2004 Network Telenor opens the first UMTS mobile network in Norway.[6][25]
2006 Organization Network Norway is founded by a small group of people from Telenor and NetCom.[26]
2007 Network The digital terrestrial network opens in the country.[7]
2007 System Telenor Norway is granted a licence in the 2.6 GHz band for 4G.[7][27]
2011 Network Telenor Svalbard celebrates 100 years and launches the northernmost 4G network.[7]
2011 Infrastructure Telenor runs network swap in the country, replacing equipment at 6500 locations and wins the InfoWorld Green Award for clever handling 1500 tons of used network equipment.[7]
2012 Network Telenor launches its fourth-generation mobile network (4G) in 11 cities and towns across the country.[7]
2014 Service Telenor launches mobile payment solution Valyou.[28][7]
2016 Telenor has over 19.000 employees, becoming one of the world’s largest mobile operators.[5]

Visual data

Google Trends

The comparative chart below shows Google Trends data (Norway) for Telenor (Mobile telecommunication company) and Telia Norge (Mobile phone operator company), from January 2004 to March 2021, when the screenshot was taken. Interest is also ranked by state and displayed on map.[29]

Telenor and Telia Norge gt.png

Google Ngram Viewer

The comparative chart below shows Google Ngram Viewer data for Network Norway, Telenor, Televerket, NetCom and Telia Norge, from 1965 to 2019.[30]

Network Norway, Telenor, Televerket, NetCom and Telia Norge ngram.png

Wikipedia Views

The chart below shows pageviews of the English Wikipedia article Telecommunications in Norway, from July 2015 to March 2021.[31]

Telecommunications in Norway wv.png

Meta information on the timeline

How the timeline was built

The initial version of the timeline was written by User:Sebastian.

Funding information for this timeline is available.

What the timeline is still missing

Timeline update strategy

See also

External links

References

  1. Roberts, Steven; Hay, Tony. International Directory of Telecommunications: Market Trends, Companies, Statistics, and Personnel. 
  2. Hoover's Handbook of World Business. Reference Press. 
  3. "Telenor ASA History". fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 30 April 2018. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 Hoover's Handbook of World Business. Reference Press. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 "Telenor's history is Norway's history". telenorkulturarv.no. Retrieved 20 April 2018. 
  6. 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-08-23. Retrieved 2006-08-23. 
  7. 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 7.15 7.16 7.17 7.18 7.19 7.20 7.21 7.22 7.23 7.24 7.25 7.26 7.27 7.28 7.29 7.30 7.31 "Norwegian History". telenor.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018. 
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Telecommunication laws in Europe (Baker & McKenzie. European Telecommunications Law Practice Group ed.). Butterworths, 1998. 
  9. Telektronikk. Telegrafstyret, 1995. 
  10. Telecommunication Journal, Volume 43. International Telecommunication Union, 1976. 
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 "The mobile phone adventure". telenor.com. Retrieved 22 February 2018. 
  12. Statistics. Tele, 1983. 
  13. Sánchez, Ron; Heene, Aimé. Strategic learning and knowledge management. 
  14. Noam, Eli. Telecommunications in Europe. Retrieved 21 November 2017. 
  15. "Telia Norge - Anypoint Platform Mule ESB". redpill-linpro.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018. 
  16. 16.0 16.1 "Netcom AB announces the launch of mobile telephony services in Norway". news.cision.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018. 
  17. 17.0 17.1 "Liberalization of the telephony markets". teliacompanyhistory.com. Retrieved 27 October 2017. 
  18. Communications Regulation. Pike & Fischer. 
  19. "Chess telefon". fitnesstreningprogram.blogspot.com.ar. Retrieved 30 April 2018. 
  20. 20.0 20.1 "Who is Telenor?". b92.net. Retrieved 28 April 2018. 
  21. "Nobel Peace Prize winner itching for a fight". archive.fortune.com. Retrieved 28 April 2018. 
  22. "Ten years on the Stock Exchange". telenor.com. Retrieved 28 April 2018. 
  23. "Tele2 AB announces strong group customer intake, and continued significant improvement in ebitda margins". tele2.com. Retrieved 28 April 2018. 
  24. "IMPLEMENTATION OF MOBILE NUMBER PORTABILITY IN CEPT COUNTRIES" (PDF). erodocdb.dk. Retrieved 29 April 2018. 
  25. Plunkett, Jack W. Plunkett's Telecommunications Industry Almanac 2007: Telecommunications Industry Market Research, Statistics, Trends & Leading Companies. 
  26. "Network Norway". jinnysoftware.com. Retrieved 30 April 2018. 
  27. "Norway completes first 2.6GHz spectrum in Europe". dotecon.com. Retrieved 29 April 2018. 
  28. "Valyou goes live across Norway". nfcworld.com. Retrieved 20 April 2018. 
  29. "Telenor and Telia Norge". Google Trends. Retrieved 27 April 2021. 
  30. "Network Norway, Telenor, Televerket, NetCom and Telia Norge". books.google.com. Retrieved 27 April 2021. 
  31. "Telecommunications in Norway". wikipediaviews.org. Retrieved 27 April 2021.