Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (00:07):
So we're in Barcelona for MWC 25. I'm here with Topi Manner. He's the CEO of Elisa from Finland. Topi, thanks so much for joining us today. Great for having you, Ray. So you've been the CEO at Elisa for about a year. Can you tell us quickly about the company for those maybe not so familiar with it?

Topi Manner, Elisa (00:28):
Yeah, we are a telco, obviously in Finland and Estonia market number one in Finland, market number two in Estonia. We are proud of our long heritage. We are a company that has 140 years of history and today we also have an international software business selling software solutions to telecom companies, to industrial companies in more than 20 countries operating in more than 20 countries.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (00:59):
Okay, so good diversification and we're seeing a bit more of that happen there elsewhere in the industry as well. Absolutely. Companies breaking out now, there's a lot of talk these days including from the telco community itself about how tough it is for communication network operators and service providers to grow their businesses and be profitable. What's your view on this? Is the telecom sector viable? How can telcos grow and be profitable?

Topi Manner, Elisa (01:30):
Well, it all depends on perspective. I joined from the aviation industry and I was an airline CEO during the pandemic. I lost 90% of my revenue during that time. So to me, telco sector is a very viable sector. We obviously serve a great need for our customers and for the society. For most parts, the sector is quite profitable and we are living at the age of a paradigm shift in terms of technology and to me that creates possibilities to grow. For example, we as a company, we see possibilities to grow in terms of broadening our offering to consumers around digital services in their homes in IT, and cybersecurity services for corporates. And then in the international software business,

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (02:29):
I mean that sort of diversification and expansion of the portfolio is something that's being talked about at a show like MWC for forever and ever. But is there something about the environment or the capabilities now that make this more of a potential reality than just maybe a PowerPoint slide or an idea?

Topi Manner, Elisa (02:52):
Well, I think that there are a couple of things happening out there on the market. Clearly new technologies are developing very, very fast and AI obviously is a case in point. Then the geopolitical turmoil that we are living currently means that, for example, defense industry will be having a lot of investment need going forward. And I think our industry plays a role in that. So that creates growth opportunities. So the world is changing and I think that there will be opportunities we need to capture those opportunities.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (03:28):
Yeah, absolutely. Now Elisa is known for being a company for quite a while now, that always seems to be at the cutting edge of technology developments. For example, in the high speed fixed broadband cloud ran 5G advance. What's the strategic thinking behind that? Because clearly something that happens time and time again and is that important for Elisa from a competitive and customer facing viewpoint?

Topi Manner, Elisa (03:56):
It is. Being a technology leader is part of our DNA as a company, part of our strategy, but it is not about being a technology leader per se. It is very much about bringing value to customers. But we have this underlying belief that with the kind of solutions that you mentioned, we will be able to serve our customers better, generate value value for them, and then also to monetize that value for better business like we are doing, for example, with 5G these days.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (04:31):
And of course there's a lot of talk about automation in the industry these days, but that's something that Elisa has been focused on for many years, isn't it? In fact, for a lot longer than

Topi Manner, Elisa (04:42):
Absolutely.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (04:42):
People have even been talking about

Topi Manner, Elisa (04:43):
For almost 15 years now. So since 2011.

(04:48):
So we have this, what we would like to think as world leading capability around network automation, which is very much about data, about predictive modeling, advanced analytics and machine learning. And today that translates to our customers with better quality of the network. We have all time high customer satisfaction at the end of last year, and it translates to us as lower opex. And now we have effectively taken this capability. We have turned that into a software product that we are selling to 100 telcos in the world.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (05:25):
Right, okay. So internal innovation for yourselves and customers and then take that further. That is

Topi Manner, Elisa (05:32):
The pattern that keeps on repeating itself in Elisa. We develop something for our own use with our resourceful innovative engineering skills and then we commercialize that for customers. Another example is our virtual power plant distributed energy storage that is gathering traction out there on the market right now.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (05:57):
Okay, interesting. Now of course here at MWC, you can't go five yards without seeing some kind of AI messaging or marketing or announcement. And you recently announced plans to hire a hundred AI specialists this year. Is this a drive to further automation at the company or to develop AI specific services for customers? What's the reasoning behind this move to hire these people?

Topi Manner, Elisa (06:25):
Well, we have great people already in the company and we want to ensure that we will continue to have it so going forward and software skills and that capability is very much in the core of our strategy, including automation, including ai. We are using that capability for growth across our business, but also for productivity across our business.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (06:55):
Okay. And so is there a plan to develop a suite of AI enabled services for the customers that are new to the market and maybe specific to the market that you are in?

Topi Manner, Elisa (07:07):
Absolutely. Absolutely. So the energy solution around virtual power plant is a case in point for telcos enabling 50% reduction in the electricity bill of the RAN network. That same analogy of lies for consumers enables consumers to minimize the electricity bill of their household. We bring the battery to your home and we manage that, the electricity purchase from the grid with our AI solution.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (07:43):
Right, okay. So lots of different uses of AI that perhaps people are just discovering can be part of the business strategy?

Topi Manner, Elisa (07:51):
Absolutely.

Ray Le Maistre, TelecomTV (07:52):
Okay, excellent. Topi, thank you very much for joining us today. Great to talk to and enjoy the rest of N WC 25.

Topi Manner, Elisa (07:59):
Thank you, Ray. Thank you.