Q-Free ASA is an electronic toll collection technology

Electronic toll collection

Electronic toll collection , an adaptation of military "identification friend or foe" technology, aims to eliminate the delay on toll roads by collecting tolls electronically. It is thus a technological implementation of a road pricing concept...

 (ETC) development company based in Trondheim

Trondheim

Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. The company delivers systems for toll collection and automated ticketing globally and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange

Oslo Stock Exchange

The Oslo Stock Exchange serves as the main market for trading in the shares of Norwegian companies. It opens at 9:00am and closes 5:30pm local time...

.

History

Q-Free is a world leading technology supplier of solutions for Road User Charging (RUC) and Traffic Surveillance. Q-Free deliver products and systems globally to battle city congestion, pollution and help finance infrastructure. With offices in most European countries, Asia, Australia and Americas, Q-Free is positioned as a leading supplier of flexible ITS solutions ranging from Road Side Infrastructure and Mobile Units for payment transactions to System design and Software development for transaction development.

The company was established as Micro Design AS in 1984. In 1988 Q-Free ETC technology was installed in Trondheim

Trondheim

Trondheim , historically, Nidaros and Trondhjem, is a city and municipality in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. With a population of 173,486, it is the third most populous municipality and city in the country, although the fourth largest metropolitan area. It is the administrative centre of...

 and two years later in Oslo

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

, the two systems being the precessor to the present AutoPASS

Autopass

Autopass is an electronic toll collection system used in Norway. It allows collecting road tolls automatically from cars...

 technology in Norway. The companies first international delivery came in 1995 to Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 and in 1997 the European standard for Electronic Toll Collection was introduced. In 1998 the company changed its name to Q-Free. The company's headquarter is in Trondheim, Norway. Q-Free also has 14 regional offices in Europe, America, Asia and Australia. On April 3, 2002 the company was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange with the ticker QFR.

In September 2001, Q-Free bought the cellphone manufacturer MagCom

MagCom

MagCom was a Norwegian manufacturer of cellular GSM handsets. The company, located in Oslo, was founded in 1999. In its various phases, around 200 million NOK were invested in the company...

. The new company, named Q-Free MagCom, continued as a separate entity for around a year, after which the production of phones ceased.