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final position of the Finnish market, which companies will stay and which will go.”
scattered across a vast, densely forested area waiting for a fibre network, only able to be dug a few months of the year when the ground isn’t frozen. Add to that a potentially hostile neighbour apparently gathering troops near the border. Achieving connectivity, never mind profitability amid all this sounds like a pretty tall order, but none of the lovely people I spoke to see it like that. They all seem remarkably sanguine, pragmatic about any challenges, comfortably off and looking forward to the future. For Vanhastel, the fibre future in Finland is bright. “Gigabit and multi-gigabit broadband is taking hold globally, and Finland is not only keeping pace, but is home to some highly advanced broadband networks. Several operators, including Lounea, already offer 10G services, while Elisa announced 25G deployments and has even conducted trials of 100G technology.” Veli-Matti was also optimistic. “We will see growth in the economy. What President Trump is doing in the States and making his wars is not very good for our economy, so it’s challenging times, but we will see growth. We will have more guys deployed, so they are more secure about their future. Fibre is growing, take-up rates are going up. We don’t see any hindrance or anything stopping us in that sense. I guess in the long run, we don’t have many problems in Finland. Our customers see that they will need fibre and they will need mobile. They will need both. One way or another, but it’s both ways.”
of Europe appeared to wake up to the threat of cyber security and hostile activity by Russia,” and in a typically Finnish, understated way, added “I was a little bit surprised that they hadn’t really thought of it that much before.” Consolidation and the future In previous decades there was a lot of consolidation, because small companies had built their own copper network and owners sold up to become part of bigger ones; as a result of all this, the Finnet group was formed. Jarmo has concerns about the direction of travel; a sense that profiteering from these small cooperatives as companies consolidated has created further disruption and instability in an already fluctuating market. “We had about 56 companies all over Finland. In the fibre market we had been investing quite heavily and there are also small players, new players. Consolidation started because three of those companies had a lot of money, they paid quite good prices for those small ones and there was a sense that big money could be made from selling up. Unfortunately, this is happening. But it’s not that dramatic. “The remaining 15 companies in the Finnet group seem stable. Most of those consolidations are happening in those companies and actually Lounea, which is the biggest of the Finnet group is buying and consolidating smaller companies. Our group is also growing and benefiting this consolidation process.” Jarmo’s view is that once the fibre roll out is complete in around 2028, 2029 consolidation will take place on a bigger scale. “We will see the
Consolidation over decades has reduced the overall number, but many have remained regionally rooted. “What makes our members unique is ownership. Most are customer-owned cooperatives; local residents buy shares in their telecom company. Presumably such a structure has also resisted foreign acquisition? To some extent, yes,” Jarmo agreed. “Customer- owners tend to prioritise service continuity over short-term financial return.” They are not seeking dividends; they want reliable services and long-term stability.”
That model has kept many companies independent for over a century.
Veli-Matti described servicing these networks as a fibre operator. “There are about 100 players in the Finnish market who own networks. We are servicing a lot of them. We are taking care of their customers. We are taking care of their networks. We have a very close relationship with many of them, we know them, most of them are very, very small. Sometimes acquisitions take place and at Lounea we are in a good position to acquire them. Some have only got 100 or 200, maybe 300 customers, they are very small networks. Most of them are municipally owned. Village networks.” Finnish pragmatism There are overbuild factors, no legacy network, price wars, fierce competition from mobile and from each other, consolidation at pace, dozens of local cooperatives managing a tiny population
Volume 48 No.2 MAY 2026
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