Additional competition is in the offing for Finland s incumbent mobile telecommunications operators.
These incumbents have enjoyed unparalleled growth in Finland s much touted mobile services and Radiolinja s commercial launch in 1992 of its GSM services the first in the world. In fact the 3Gee Alliance was formed among numerous local telephone companies and Sweden s 2nd national GSM operator Tele2 just for the purpose of obtaining one of Finland s four national 3rd generation mobile network licenses. One of Finland s up and coming Internet service providers, Saunalahden Serveri, has also become involved with the Alliance after its own 3rd generation mobile network license was unsuccessful. Sweden s Telia is no newcomer to Finland s mobile market as it has operated GSM 1800 networks in three of Finland s metropolitan areas since 1998. The race for 3rd generation mobile services is on in Finland.