Telia Lithuania To Pump In $11m To Construct Largest Data Centre In Baltic

Telecommunications operator, Telia Lithuania has begun the process of having a new data centre with the purchase of a two hectare plot of land near Vilnius.

Telia Lietuva, the only Telecoms  operator in the Lithuania state, will invest about $11 million in the construction of what is poised to  be the largest data centre  in the country, with the company taking over the plot ownership at the start of  this year, amid plans to put contracts for design and construction out to tender shortly.

The head of Enterprise at Telia Lietuva, Daniel Karpovic said:

“A significant increase in the need for IT services for businesses and public sector organizations during the pandemic has become a part of a new, digital economy, which in turn led to our decision to build a new, modern and sustainable data centre”.

He added: “Having connected three data centres located in different parts of Vilnius into a single infrastructure, we will gain an even greater competitive advantage and will be able to offer our customers unique IT solutions and even more security. Moreover, the Raisteniškės data centre will be modular, so we will be able to expand its capacity in the future, thus balancing the activities of other data centres”.

Adapting to existing conditions is an important plus for a company but when making a greenfield investment, it is not mandatory. But then, it will have to decide on the best methods for making sure the physical security of data and equipment, the reliability of the services provided and  the  sustainability of the data centre  are  maintained.

Telia Lietuva, the provider of integrated communication, IT, and TV services to residents and businesses of the Baltic country in a Press Release said the Telia Co. AB unit bought a two-hectare plot of land near Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, for the planned data centre, with the data centre in Raisteniskes, having to be connected to the other two Telia Lietuva data centres in Vilnius. The purchase and building will equate to creating the largest data centre infrastructure in the Baltic States.

The expansion and growth in sales of Telia Lietuva IT services by more than 20 percent for several consecutive years imposed the need for such a decision.

Telia Lietuva is the only telecommunications company in Lithuania with a full scale offering of fixed and mobile telephony, broadband internet and television services. The company still has almost 100 percent of the fixed voice market and faces competition primarily from the mobile sector and cable TV companies, according to a statement on the company’s official website.