Our history

In 2001 the Finnish private equity firm CapMan acquired IVO Transmission Engineering from utility company Fortum. The background to the acquisition was the coming deregulation of the market for production and transmission of energy. The emerging technologies for mobile technology such as 3G also fuelled the demand for networks. The new owners initiated the work to transform the company from a state actor to a private, customer-focused business.

2003 Eltel acquired a power transmissions company in Poland with 180 employees. Eltel also decided to enter the market for mobile- and landbased telecommunication in Poland during 2004–2007 and grew considerably through acquisitions.

2004 is a milestone in the history of Eltel. The company was bought by IK Investment Partners who merged it with Swedia Networks. Overnight the turnover was doubled, and the company had a total of 6 000 employees. Eltel Networks Oy became one of the leading companies in Northern Europe on planning, construction and maintenance of electricity and telecommunication networks.

A period of consolidation followed the merger with Swedia and further acquisitions. Focus was to unify the services and delivery processes to manage the customer orders as effectively as possible.

By 2008 Eltel had grown from a turnover of EUR 192 million  in 2001 to EUR 845 million and went from 1,500 employees to 9,300.

2011 the market for Infranet experienced a boost and Eltel’s net sales increased by 18%, compared to previous year. Eltel continued to expand and developed the cooperation and exchange of competencies between countries.

2015 Eltel enters Nasdaq OMX.

2018 Eltel launches the strategy Operational Excellence after a few years of setbacks. The strategy focuses on Eltel’s home markets and to divest the parts that isn’t core business. A country-based organisation is implemented, where all countries are divided in two segments: Power and Communication. On top of that there are two international, project-based units: High Voltage and Smart Grids.

2019 Eltel took the next step on its transformation journey and continued to transform the company from a diversified project and service company into a service company focused on its markets in the Nordics. Consequently, the Polish Communication business was divested.

2020 The focus on the Nordic market continued and Eltel divested its German Communication business and the Swedish business area Aviation & Security. The year was also marked by the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021 Divestment of high voltage business in Germany furthered Eltel’s Nordic strategy. Sustainability was in focus and Eltel improved its safety performance, committed to the Science Based Targets initiative and improved the CDP Climate Change score for taking coordinated actions on climate issues. Social distancing continued due the COVID-19 pandemic.

2022 Net sales for the Group increased by 1.4% for the first time since 2017. First ever injury free month, October 2022. During the year, Eltel began working with the new strategy for 2023–2025. The strategy focuses on innovation, sustainability and new market development, as well as expanding existing and new business opportunities.