Finland, 1982

In Finland at that time there were 58 independent telephone companies, many of which used their own telephone cards, often custom-made standard cards with overprinting. The PTT national telephone company (which later became “Tele”) was in any case the first: as early as 1982, a telephone system based on the Landis & Gyr optical cards was installed, and tested in the Dragsvik military base. The first two cards issued, of 50 (circulation 3,000) and 120 units (circulation 1,000), reported a translation error: “Samstalskort” instead of “Samtalskort”, which was then corrected in the second run of 1984 (26,000 copies of 50 units value, while the 120 was not reissued).
It was only in 1989 that the British
GPT system of magnetic cards was adopted, which remained in use until 1992, when it was gradually replaced by the chip system, although some local companies still used other systems. The first GPT cards formed a series of four landscapes: 10mk (circulation: 10,000), 30mk (90,000), 50mk (50,000), and 100mk (50,000).

Phonecards - Finland 1982