We create connections that make the unimaginable possible

After NMT (1G) came GSM (2G), enabling even more widespread use of mobile telephony. On July 1, 1991, the new European GSM standard was introduced across many European countries, with GSM calls being made in Germany, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden over Ericsson systems.

The days of analog switches were coming to an end. New electronic and digital systems would replace them – and so Ericsson built the AXE switching system, as a joint venture with Swedish PTT Televerket. AXE was revolutionary in several ways, particularly through its advanced modular system architecture – and Ericsson would prosper with it for many decades to come.

Ericsson's very first mobile phone, designed in 1956, weighed like a young teenager at 40 kilos and was about the size of a suitcase. Perhaps not really “mobile”. And never destined to be a best-seller, since the network that was built to support it couldn’t handle more than 100 subscribers. (In 1987 that Ericsson would release its first real handheld mobile phone, the HotLine Pocket.)

When it arrived, the 500-switch automatic telephone system was a mechanical marvel, capable of handling a whopping 500 lines. The first Ericsson 500-switch station was put in operation in 1923. Eight years later, Ericsson had delivered about 100 stations with a total of more than 350,000 lines. Sales continued to increase over several decades. By 1974, when sales eventually started to decline, 4.8 million lines using the 500-switch were in operation in public telephone stations.

In 1876 Lars Magnus Ericsson started a small mechanical workshop in central Stockholm, which went on to become one of the world’s leading information and communication technology companies. In 1880, he launched the first wall-mounted telephone and delivered the first switchboard.