Elisa CEO Topi Manner has outlined the significance of the data center market as an opportunity for the telco to bolster its long-term revenue.

Manner made the comments during the company’s Q2 earnings call this week, stating that the quarter heralded the beginning of Elisa’s large-scale data center connectivity business.

His comments are timely, given DCD covered Finland’s recent data center boom in the latest issue of the DCD>Magazine (read that feature here).

A 2025 study commissioned by the Confederation of Finnish Industries and the Finnish Data Center Association (FDCA) suggests the country’s data center market currently sits at around 285MW, but could surpass 1.5GW by 2030, with total announced projects surpassing 3.4GW.

These sorts of numbers are translating to the mobile carriers too, according to Manner, who said the country is an “attractive place for data center operators.”

“During the quarter, we signed our first large-scale data center connectivity deals. And when we talk about large-scale data centers, we talk about newly constructed above 100-megawatt data centers,” said Manner. “Overall, in Finland, the data center market is growing. We see more and more projects materializing, and the ultimate size of the market will depend on many variables.”

Manner didn’t name the companies with which Elisa has signed these large-scale data center connectivity deals. The company has previously paired with Wind River to deploy a “fully automated” Edge data center.

For Elisa, Manner notes that the data center opportunity lies around the fiber that connects the data centers.

“The market is emerging, but it holds significant future potential for us. At the same time, it is important to note that we are focusing on data center connectivity business, meaning the fiber connections to the data center, potentially supplemented by optics in some cases,” he added.

Although the company sees the long-term potential for data center opportunities, for now Elisa has reported flat figures during Q2.

Elisa posted revenue of €551 million ($630m) for the quarter, down 0.3 percent from last year’s €552m ($631m).

During the quarter, the carrier reported that overall telecom service revenue decreased by 0.7 percent. For the first six months of the year, Elisa noted a decrease in equipment sales, mobile and traditional fixed (PSTN) telecom services, but saw growth in fixed, international software, and energy software services.