Finland has ended its analog landline telephone service after nearly 140 years, becoming the latest country to progress in the global transition toward a digital infrastructure.

The fixed-line telephone network in Finland began operating in the 1880s, but the digital revolution, as elsewhere in the world, consumed the old copper-wire technology.

The Scandinavian country, home to leading mobile phone company Nokia, has seen a sharp decline in landline use in favor of mobile technology.

Elisa, the last major telecom operator in the country with a copper-wire fixed network, bid farewell to its service with a call between the company's CEO, Topi Manner, and Jarkko Saarimäki, head of the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency.

The two men exchanged memories of landline phones, with Manner recalling his teenage years in London in the 1980s, when he would call his family once a week at a pre-arranged time to ensure all family members were near the phone.

The company stated that the number of customers who only have a landline is no more than a few thousand, and that it has not sold any new contracts of this type for years.

After this decision, landline phones will only remain available through local operators in Finland, serving a few thousand customers who rely on local calls.