The data centre market in Romania is microscopic, with only 48 MW of installed capacity, but the region has every chance to grow in this respect, said Florin Furdui, Country Manager Portland Trust Romania.
“None of the big players have yet made an appearance in the market. The trend is similar in Prague, although there they are a bit more advanced, despite being closer to the centre of Europe and having a longer history in this area,” he said, at the DigitALL 2024 conference organized by Energynomics.
The market in Bucharest is relatively fragmented, with 12 local data centre providers. Most installations are relatively small, the largest being around 1.2 MW. The largest provider is NXTRA with two data centres in the city, specialising in connectivity. With an economy that is digitising, however, growth is anticipated in the future.
Prague is in a slightly better situation, with 22 data centres belonging to 12 providers. The largest providers are T-Mobile (13 MW) and O2 (8.5 MW). The largest single carrier provider is TTC Teleport with 6 MW at its main facility. At this time, there is no information on any other large projects in the pipeline.
Furdui said companies that invest in data centres do so because these facilities, once completed, generate steady revenue.
However, the regional market will develop on three levels. First, there is a structural need for regionalisation of data and infrastructure. The second tier is efficiency in the core area.
The data centre market in Europe is dominated by FLAPD (Frankfurt-London-Amsterdam-Paris and Dublin). In these cities the availability of land and electricity for new data centres has been reduced, so new targets have very distant grid connection deadlines, such as 2030 or even 2035.
“In FLAPD the costs are increasing. In the meantime, the FLAPD has been joined by MM, i.e. Madrid and Milan, but Warsaw, Zurich or Vienna will follow. These are [the areas where] new data centres are now being built,” Furdui added.
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Thirdly, there is financial efficiency. All investors look at the return on money in such investments. Central and Eastern Europe offers better returns than Western markets. The only perceived risks are political.
“Surely in the coming years interested players will direct significant amounts in such investments in our area, Furdui added.
DigitALL 2024 was organized by Energynomics, in partnership with reputed organizations such as the CIO Council, with the support of our partners: Corning, Datacor, Eaton Electric, Enevo Group, Procesio, Siemens, Sixt, Vertiv.