Our road to becoming Loihde

Loihde is formerly known as Viria, Anvia and Vaasan Läänin Puhelin. Our business activities took their current form after 2016, when we sold our telecom business. Today, our strategy is to grow in the corporate security solutions and digital development businesses.

Loihde Plc has its roots in local telephone company operations and its history can be traced back almost 140 years. In 1882, a group of merchants in Vaasa established Oy Waasan Telefooniyhdistys, which was the fifth telephone company in Finland. In the course of decades, local telephone companies merged their operations and more than a century later, in 1989, Vaasan Puhelin and Etelä-Pohjanmaan Puhelin merged into Vaasan Läänin Puhelin Oy. Approximately twenty years later, in 2008, the company changed its name to Anvia.

In 2016, Anvia sold its telecom business and a new era in the company’s history began. In January 2017, the Group changed its name to Viria, and according to our new strategy we began developing into an expert in security solutions, business intelligence and digital development.

We have expanded and strengthened the Group and its service offerings through several acquisitions in recent years. Our security solutions business was strengthened with cyber security know-how, and nowadays Loihde is one of the largest providers of comprehensive business security in Finland.

Our digital development business has grown by adding competence in developing our customers’ digital business activities, business intelligence, building data solutions, software development and cloud technologies.

Since 2021, the name of the Group is Loihde. We operate in the markets of security and digital development, which are very interesting and continuously developing, and we believe that Loihde has good opportunities to grow and succeed.