Cell Phone Company

Many users probably own a Nokia mobile device and know that these are among the most appreciated cell phones in the world, but it not too many are aware of how everything started. The Nokia Corporation is the biggest mobile phone producer in the world and an established Finnish multinational corporation, headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, near the capital Helsinki. The company is deeply engaged in the manufacturing of cellular phones and in the field of Internet and communications industries, with over 123, 000 employees in 120 countries.

The history of Nokia began with the predecessords of the Modern Nokia Company, Nokia Aktiebalag, Finnish Rubber Works Ltd, and Finnish Cable Works Ltd. In 1865, the minning engineer Fredrik Idestam established a grandwood pulp mill on the banks of the Tammerkoski river in the town of Tampere in the south-west of Finland with the purpose of manufacturing paper. Three years later, a second mill has been established on the Nokianvirta river, near the town of Nokia and fifteen kilometers west of Tampere, and in 1871 Fredrik Idestam with the help of a close friend, Leo Mechelin, renamed and transformed its firms into a share company, officially founding the Nokia Company.



In 1898, Eduard Polon founded the Finnish Rubber Works, a galashes and other rubber products manufacturer, later becoming the Nokia`s Company rubber business. At the beginning of the following century, the company moved its factories near the town of Nokia, and used the name as a product brand.

In 1912, Arvid Viekstrom founded a third company, Finnish Cable Works, producing telephones, telegraphes and established cables, later becoming the Nokia`s cable and electronic businesses. Towards the end of the second decade of  the 20th century , shortly after the World War II the Nokia Company was very close to bankruptcy. In order to ensure a continuous electricity supply from the Nokia generators, Finnish Rubber Works aquirred the business of the insolvent company. In 1922, Finnish Rubber Works also aquirred Finnish Cable Works, and the three companies jointly owned since 1922 became a new industrial conglomerate. The new structure became the Nokia Corporation in 1967, paving the way for the company as a future global corporation. The character of the new company was not very definite, as it was involved in may industries. In the same time, they produced paper products, car and bicyle tires, footwear (including the famous Wellington boots), communication cables, televisions and other consumer electronics like personal computers, electricity generators, robotics, capacitors, military communications and equipment, plastics, aluminum and chemicals.

Every type of business the company has developed at some point had its own director who reported to the first Nokia Corporation President, Bjorn Westerlund. The history of Nokia is closely linked with his name, as he had previously been the president of the Finnish Cable Works where he was responsible for setting the first electronics department of the company in 1960, building solid foundations to Nokia`s future in telecommunications.  In the `90s the comapany decided to leave the field of consumer electronics, focusing on a new and succesful industry in the segment of telecommunications.

As I pointed out above, the company began its involvement in the telecommunication in the 1970s by developing the Nokia DX200, a digital switch for telephone exchanges. In 1982 the product became the world`s first microprocessor controlled telephone to be taken in service in Europe at the first fully digital exchange. The flexible  and modular architecture of the DX200 made possible its development in various  switching products and determined a 1984 version of the exchange for the Nordic Mobile Telephony network.