When coin-operated phones were introduced costs for coin handling, vandalism and unpaid use went up. The trend inspired Telia and other operators of public phones to look for alternatives to coin operation. What modern technology had to offer was several different forms of card-operated phones.
Tests

Telia chose a system in 1989, after carrying out tests of various card-operated public phones. Three different tests were carried out before a national system was chosen.

1.       The first system tested by Telia consisted of telephones with plastic optical cards. The system was purchased from Sodeco (Landis & Gyr) in Switzerland. The system was tested around Uppsala starting in 1981 and was in operation until the phones were replaced in 1991 with the system that had been chosen for the entire country. The test included 60-70 public phones tested on the streets and town squares, at the Samaritan Home in down town Uppsala and the F18 military installation just outside of the city.

2.       The second system consisted of public phones with plastic magnetic strip cards and was purchased from Plessey, which later changed its name to GPT, in England. About 15 public phones were set up at the Berga Naval Academies outside of Stockholm, Södersjukhuset and Karlberg's War College in downtown Stockholm. The tests began in 1987.

3.       The third system consisted of public phones with paper magnetic strip cards from NTT/Marubeni in Japan. Seven phones were tested at the Regional Hospital in Linköping. The tests began in 1989.

The Swedish system
The final choice was for a system from a French manufacturer, Schlumberger Industries. Following testing, the system was officially started in October 1990. The cards used in the system are called IC cards (integrated circuit cards), but are also known as chip cards or smart cards. IC cards are more expensive to make than magnetic strip cards, but are more reliable and secure.
IC cards also make it possible to develop new applications to keep up with customer requirements. Another advantage to IC cards is that Telia can buy phones and cards from different manufacturers. Earlier systems were based on closed systems for each manufacturer, including both cards and phones.

Denominations
When the IC card system was introduced, there were two denominations available, 50 calling units and 100 units. At the end of 1991, a card with 25 units was issued. In early 1994, the denominations for public cards were changed to 30, 60 and 120 units. Different denominations have been used for individual cards.

Variants
There are three different types of cards:

1.       Teliakort - cards used by Telia for operation and maintenance of public phones. These cards are not for sale.

2.       Public cards - cards sold to the public.

3.       Promotion cards - cards ordered, paid for and distributed by companies for promotional purposes or as gifts.

Note: During the development of phone cards, various test printings were carried out with widely varying quality. That means that cards that look different from the cards in the catalogue can be found. Only cards with LZYA numbers are official phone cards.

Distribution
There are about 17,000 card-operated public telephones in Sweden and about 6,000 retailers that sell phone cards, e.g. Telia stores and Pressbyrå. In 1997, Telia sold about 5.7 million phone cards.
Note: Swedish Rail has public telephones on some trains, that can be used with a type of phone card that is sold in the restaurant carriages by AB Trafikrestauranger.