Elisa continued its solid development. Revenue increased by 6 per cent from the previous year to EUR 511 million. EBITDA improved by 4 per cent, to EUR 177 million, and earnings per share by 8 per cent, to EUR 0.55. Despite increased geopolitical challenges and ongoing restrictions due to COVID-19, we achieved a strong result in the first quarter.

Russia's war in Ukraine has had no major direct impacts on Elisa; however, the crisis is expected to affect the general economic environment as a result of higher energy prices, challenges in supply chains, etc. These uncertainties may impact Elisa’s business. 

We continued our strong leadership in 5G: Elisa's coverage extends to 77 per cent of the Finnish population in over 160 municipalities. In February–March, an independent benchmarking study1) compared differences in 5G network coverage between operators. The results show that Elisa's 5G network clearly has better coverage than Telenor/DNA's and Telia's.

The international digital services business progressed well during the quarter. Elisa Polystar acquired FRINX s.r.o, a Slovak telecom network automation software supplier, and their combined offering helps communications service providers comprehensively automate their network management processes in a multivendor telecom network environment.

Sustainability has been part of Elisa’s strategy for over ten years, and our updated sustainability goals emphasise the importance of our handprint. Additionally, we focus on transparency and consistency in reporting. Starting from this quarter, we will also be reporting the results of our key sustainability indicators in our Interim Reports. We published our annual assured Sustainability Report, including information in accordance with the EU Taxonomy Regulation. We also published climate-related financial information in accordance with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures in a separate report.

Our mission is a sustainable future through digitalisation. In the first quarter, we announced a ten-year wind power agreement, established our Sustainability Finance Framework, and joined Women4Cyber Finland to increase the employment of women in the Finnish cybersecurity industry. 

We will continue to focus strongly on continuous improvement of the customer experience and quality. Increasing productivity, innovating and expanding our digital services internationally and creating value with data, as well as our strong investment capability, continue to lay a solid foundation for competitively creating value in the future.