PER DANIELSEN NORDIC BUSINESS
data centre provider with a capacity of 13,000 m2 of secure co-location space. In June 2017, GlobalConnect announced that it intended to acquire Nianet, which is owned by 13 energy companies. GREEN ENERGY ATTRACTS DATA CENTRES The reason why the FTTH penetration in Denmark is so low (18.4 %) compared to the rest of the Nordic countries is that TDC is so dominant in the metro area around Copenhagen, the capital city. After TDC acquired two fibre networks from DONG Energy and ComX, it stopped rolling fibres out to private households. Instead TDC delivers broadband by its coax- and copper-networks. Outside of the capital region, the utility companies are owned by consumer groups and they have decided to roll out their own fibre networks. But in one notable field Denmark is in front, which is sustainable energy – this form of energy accounted for more than 30 percent of Danish energy consumption in 2015. Other Danish advantages are its low latency to Central European destinations and its direct subsea cables to the USA. Apple is planning to build two new data centres in the Danish towns of Åbenrå and Viborg on the Jutland Peninsula, both running on 100 % sustainable energy. These will power Apple’s online services, including the Apps Store, iTunes Store, iMessage, Maps and Siri, for customers across Europe. Google has also announced a new data centre at Fredericia, covering 117,740 square meters. And Facebook is to build another data centre in Odense of 184,000 square meters. Facebook’s investment in Odense is thought to be significant. In the town of Luleå in northern Sweden, Google opened a similar data centre in 2013, for which the investment was approximately SEK 3.8 billion (€400 million). But, then again, when you punch above your weight, the rewards are going to be a lot bigger than everybody would usually expect.
inclusive and sharing centre where members of academia, businesses, startup communities, organisations and authorities can contribute to and benefit from the development of new knowledge. The lab will be based on established principles for research ethics, to which contributors must adhere. DENMARK’S MOBILE QUARTET In Denmark the dominant player in the telecoms market is the incumbent operator TDC, which is the major player on fixed networks, cable TV and mobile networks. Telenor and Telia are also established in Denmark, where they o er both fixed line communication via TDCs copper network and their own mobile networks. All three companies are challenged on the mobile market by 3, which is a joint venture owned by Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings (60%) and Swedish Investor AB (40%). CK Hutchison Holdings works with telecoms in 11 countries across Europe, Asia and Australia. 3 in Denmark is so far only o ering 3G and 4G mobile communications on its own mobile network and does not o er any fixed- network connections. In order to lower the cost, Telenor and Telia decided to build a new shared 4G network instead of upgrading their two existing separate networks. Later they also upgraded their common TT-network with 3G. After that Telenor and Telia, being second and third on the Danish mobile market, planned to merge their operations in Denmark into one company. The plan was however blocked by the EU Commission in 2015, which required them to first sell their low cost carrier Bibob and allow a new player to acquire up to 40 percent of their common mobile network. GlobalConnect is Denmark’s leading alternative provider of B2B data communication services, owning and operating 13.000 km of fibre. The company’s fibre infrastructure passes more than 30,000 companies in Denmark and 9,000 companies in Germany. GlobalConnect is also the largest Danish
Sweden, including the large metropolitan areas, can subscribe to broadband TV and telephony services from Com Hem. The fibre expansion has put pressure on the pay TV operator Boxer in the digital terrestrial TV-market. Boxer has approximately half a million subscribers predominantly is areas already reached by cable. So in 2016 Com Hem acquired Boxer to accelerate its reach in the single dwelling unit market. The high penetration of optical fibres in the ground has put Sweden at the top of the FTTH-penetration in Europe with a penetration of 41%. Only Latvia has a higher penetration – of 45%. Norway is second in the Nordic region with at penetration of 31%, followed by Finland (24%) and Denmark (18%). Another important player in Sweden, is Tele2, a European telecommunications operator with its headquarters in the Kista Science City, near Stockholm. It is a major telephone operator in the Nordic and Baltic countries and an alternative provider in many others, with about 14 million customers in 9 countries. POWERHOUSE FOR AI Norway’s Telenor is one of the world’s largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations in four geographic clusters: Scandinavia, Central and Eastern Europe, emerging Asia and mature Asia. It has extensive broadband and TV distribution operations in four Nordic countries. Telenor now owns networks in 13 countries. Telenor’s ambition is to leverage its scale, both through global operations and synergies within its four geographic clusters. In Norway and Sweden, Telenor plans to step-up its fibre roll-out, aiming to strengthen its market position within high-speed broadband. In addition, Telenor will explore early positions on fibre in emerging Asia, utilising the company’s existing mobile infrastructure. Telenor is very active within artificial single most important technology of our century. In the future, AI will drive your car, revolutionise cancer treatment and make public services more e cient. With this opening we want to accelerate the education, research and competency building which will be crucial for Norway’s ability to compete in the digital future,” says Sigve Brekke, President & CEO of Telenor Group. The new centre is financed by Telenor with NOK 50 million (€5 million) and the company’s researchers will participate in joint projects at the lab. NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) contributes with academic resources, infrastructure and technical assistance while the research organisation SINTEF will contribute with bringing the knowledge into practical use. Telenor-NTNU AI-Lab will be an intelligence (AI) and has recently established a new centre for AI in Trondheim, northern Norway. “Artificial intelligence is perhaps the
Sustainable energy covered more than 30 percent of the Danish energy consumption in 2015 (Courtesy of Vestas Wind Systems A/S)
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ISSUE 10 | Q3 2017
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