Ericsson opened a technical office in Kuwait in 1965 in conjunction with the country's first orders of the crossbar switching system. Affluent as a result of oil income, Kuwait invested in technically advanced products. In the early 1970s, installation began of Ericsson's computer controlled crossbar system ARE, for which the country was one of the first customers, and in 1977, Kuwait as the first non-European country signed a contract for delivery of the AXE system. Kuwait?s order thus preceded Saudi Arabia's.
An analog E-TACS mobile telephone network was installed by Ericsson for the Mobile Telecommunications Company between 1989 and 1993.
In 1992, Behbehani Telecommunications Company (BTC) was established whose business consisted primarily of sales of Ericsson's PBX systems and mobile telephones. Two years later, Ericsson technical office was merged with BTC, and the new company was christened Kuwait Ericsson Telephone Equipment and Services.
By the turn of the century, Ericsson had a market share of about one third in mobile phones in Kuwait, while the company dominated the market for both E-TACS and international telephone stations.