Omnitele has been at the heart of telecommunications development for over three decades.  Since the early nineties, Omnitele has been on the forefront of mobile technological development and has helped many customers with the design, planning and optimisation of their mobile networks. Omnitele has provided consultancy services for technology transformations and network services for implementing advanced network strategies and methodologies. 

Omnitele's history holds pace with the development of the cellular radio technologies, where Omnitele's start coincided with the emergence of digital cellular technology and the launching of the GSM second-generation mobile network. Omnitele was founded in 1988 to design and to manage the construction of the world’s first GSM network for Radiolinja in Finland. This led to the first ever GSM phone call being successfully made in Helsinki on July 1 of 1991 by the former Finnish Prime Minister, Harri Holkeri. 

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Projects and expansion

We have come a long way – both as a company and as an industry. In 1991, we started with GSM data throughputs of only 9,6 kbps and focused mainly on mobile telephony services. Ten years later, we saw the development of data services delivering data speeds up to 240 kbps with the introduction of HSCSD (high speed circuit switched data) and packet switched data based on GPRS and EDGE.

During the mid-nineties, Omnitele was already recognised as a trusted advisor to mobile operators worldwide. After expanding into Africa in 1997, Omnitele created an application that won the world’s first 3G license in 1998,  serving as a pioneer in the industry. The year after, Omnitele assisted in the launch of the first third generation UMTS/WCDMA  networks, which allowed the first true mobile data services with speeds up to 384 kbps. 

In 1999,  the recently established Finnish mobile operator Suomen 2G contracted Omnitele to design a completely new GSM network in Finland – today known as DNA Finland. Omnitele was selected as the long-term partner to DNA to plan and optimise their RAN, which Omnitele still assists them with. 

In the first decade of this millennium, Omnitele helped its customers in implementing more advanced 3G data technologies, such as HSDPA and HSDPA+, which improved mobile customers’ mobile data experience. This decade also saw the launch of the first iPhone, which heralded the beginning of the smartphone era. Since then, it has been all about mobile data and the increase of bandwidth and speed. 

Omnitele started a long lasting relationship with Teleforum group (teleforum.org) in 2002. Teleforum consists of the operators of small states, out of which seven of them are customers of Omnitele. In 2004,  Omnitele conducted an independent quality audit of radio and network optimisation projects for UNITEL in Angola. The audit project was soon followed by a number of other projects, and the business relationship has been continuing actively ever since those days.

In 2009, Omnitele assisted its customers in yet another technology transformation from 3G to the fourth generation LTE standard with data speeds up to 150 Mbps and even 1 Gbps for the subsequent LTE-Advanced technologies. With the help of Omnitele, its customers were then able to provide the real mobile internet experience to consumers.

During 2014, Suomen Yhteisverkko OY selected Omnitele to design, plan and optimise their all-new radio network, which Omnitele also continues to consult with today. By this time, we had also completed projects in 40 different African countries including Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Rwanda and Zimbabwe. Typical projects have encompassed the planning, optimisation, evaluation and auditing of mobile networks; procurement; technology strategies; and due diligence investigations.

 Since 2019, Omnitele has been actively involved in the design and planning of the fifth-generation networks that promise mobile broadband services up to 2 Gbps for mobile customers.

Omnitele today

 Omnitele continues to support its customers in extracting the maximum value from their mobile network assets and investments. Since Omnitele was founded, the company has delivered over 2000 projects across over 100 countries around the world. Omnitele has participated in planning and developing generations of telecommunication networks and will continue to do so. Today, we assist our customers to optimise their existing 4G networks, smooth and cost-efficient transitions into 5G, and cooperate in the development of future 6G technologies.

 As a new endeavor in our story, Omnitele created an artificial intelligence solution -Omnitele PRIMEA, that combines modern data science with deep telecom expertise to help customers maximise the value of their existing networks and optimise the costs of future 4G and 5G network expansions.