Finland. Elisa Corporation

The loan has been provided to the Finnish telecommunications company Elisa Corporation to finance its investment programme in Finland and Estonia during 2018–2021. The programme focuses on increasing the coverage, speed and capacity of the mobile broadband network, with the specific aim of expanding the 4G network and building up the 5G network. The total project cost will be EUR 235 million in Finland and EUR 86 million in Estonia.

Elisa is 135-year-old telecommunications, ICT and digital service company, and one of the leaders in mobile subscriptions in Finland. The company has the widest 4G coverage in Finland, reaching 99% of the population. Elisa serves over 2.8 million customers in Finland, Estonia and further afield.

Productivity:

The investments will improve the mobile network quality in terms of speed, capacity and latency times. The roll-out of 5G networks, which are to be built on 4G networks, will start over the coming years, and it requires investments in the entire network infrastructure. Maintaining and developing the quality of the traditional network is part of the evolution, which will materialise as immediate benefits in terms of increased speed and capacity in networks in the NIB member region. Over the coming five to ten years, these investments will also support the gradual introduction of 5G networks.

Environment:

The positive environmental impact of the project is that transferring data with the newer technology consumes less energy than the older generation. Therefore, the project will reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions per unit of data transferred. However, it is likely that overall energy consumption will increase due to the rapid growth in the volume of data being transferred, which will diminish the environmental improvements.

The project has insignificant environmental and social impacts, and does not require any environmental permits.