Comviq (originally Comvik) is since 2009 a Swedish prepaid and postpaid mobile phone flanker brand, fully owned by Tele2.
The original Comvik was established in 1981 in an attempt to break the existing de facto state-sanctioned telecommunications monopoly held by Televerket at the time.
During the 1980s, investor Jan Stenbeck's strategy was to pursue, break up and create alternatives to the existing Swedish monopolies in service sectors including telephony and media.
In the late 1970s, Mr Stenbeck's Investment AB Kinnevik started to buy a number of smaller companies in Stockholm and Gothenburg that operated manual communication networks for car based equipment.
Comvik had to expand into cell-based technology that today forms the basis of mobile telephony.
In order to compete with Televerket they had a lower per-minute rate and offered free calls on evenings and weekends.
Those activities later became the founding pillars of Millicom International Cellular, of which the latter now primarily operates in various African and South American countries under the Tigo brand name.