Alan Mauldin

Alan Mauldin is a Research Director at TeleGeography. He manages the company’s infrastructure research group, focusing primarily on submarine cables, terrestrial networks, international Internet infrastructure, and bandwidth demand modeling. He also advises clients with due diligence analysis, feasibility studies, and business plan development for projects around the world. Alan speaks frequently about the global network industry at a wide range of conferences, including PTC, Submarine Networks World, and SubOptic.

LinkedIn  

Recent Presentation Posts

Gloomy Economic Indicators… Scary Future for the Subsea Cable Industry?

Some pretty ominous headlines have been circulating around the world lately regarding the risk of a global recession and the ongoing threat of inflation.

At TeleGeography, we've received several questions about how these economic indicators could impact the submarine cable industry.

In particular, people are curious to know if slowing economic growth impair international bandwidth demand growth on subsea cables. And will inflation lead to rising international bandwidth prices?

Satellites and Submarine Cables: Myth vs. Reality

Next week our own Alan Mauldin is teaming up with Ciena's Brian Lavallée for a live presentation and discussion on satellites and sub cables.

You know how it works. We'll bring the data, you bring the questions. (And we'll all probably end up learning something new.)

SubOptic Asks Us Anything

Our data is powered by a team of superstars who live and breathe telecom.

So when SubOptic—the nonprofit group of undersea communications enthusiasts known for their triennial cable conference—has questions, TeleGeography experts are ready to answer the call.

Recent Posts

Oct 2, 2024

Escaping the Matrix: AI and Submarine Cables

We are now moving from sci-fi to reality with the launch of many AI services that are poised to transform industries and reshape our daily lives.

While data centers are expanding rapidly to support AI requirements, there is less clarity on how AI might impact long-haul network infrastructure, especially submarine cables.

This is exactly what I delved into during my keynote at Submarine Networks World 2024.

Jun 27, 2024

A (Refreshed) List of Content Providers' Submarine Cable Holdings

For the last eight years, we've posted submarine cables owned by content providers over here. (Shout-out to the readers who had this one bookmarked.)

When we first published this list in 2017, we had 20 cables listed. Fast-forward to today, and our list has grown to 59—a sizable markup.

With such an uptick in content provider cables to track, we figured it was worth starting a fresh new list for you to bookmark.

May 28, 2024

Why Does Diversity Matter for Submarine Cables?

Last week, I joined Ciena’s Brian Lavallée and Colt’s Laurent Taieb for a live webinar all about submarine cable route diversity and sustainability.

For my part, I covered why diversity matters for submarine cables—a very timely topic in light of recent events around the world.

May 15, 2024

Used International Bandwidth Reaches New Heights

Worldwide bandwidth demand continues to grow at a steady pace.

Annual demand growth has decelerated slowly, but according to new data from TeleGeography’s Transport Networks Research Service, aggregate demand more than tripled between 2019 and 2023 to reach an eye-popping 5 Pbps.

Mar 15, 2024

Beyond the Red Sea Blues: West Africa Faces Fresh Cable Faults

As if three cable faults in the Red Sea weren’t enough of a headache, a series of West African cables were damaged on March 14.

The precise location and cause of all of these faults are not known at this time, but let’s look at what we do know.

Jan 17, 2024

The Red Sea: A Key Subsea Cable Crossroads Under Siege

The Red Sea is a global hot spot at the moment due to repeated attacks by Yemeni Houthi rebels against commercial shipping vessels.

While this inlet is a strategic location for global shipping, it also plays a vital role in global communications networks.

Nov 30, 2023

Want To Retire in Your 20s? Become a Submarine Cable

Wouldn't it be great to be fully retired before your 30th birthday?

Because they are engineered with a minimum design life of 25 years, it's common for the submarine cables that keep our world connected to experience this luxury.

Let’s talk about why, and what happens to cables after they reach retirement age.

Nov 13, 2023

Beware of Deep Fake TeleGeography

The age of generative AI is certainly exciting. The ability to quickly access answers to complex questions is poised to revolutionize the world. However, with great power comes great responsibility.  

When using these tools, it’s important to be mindful of some of the risks. Deep fakes are a growing concern for society at large and may have found their way to market research.

As we mentioned earlier this year, when it comes to submarine cable facts, AI may get some stuff right, but not everything.

In fact, you may be wondering, “does this mean there’s no need to subscribe to TeleGeography research anymore?” After all, can’t you just ask your favorite AI tool—whether it’s ChatGPT, Bard, etc.—to provide you with TeleGeography data?

I thought I’d ask Bard to show me some TeleGeography data. Are the results real or deep fakes? 

May 18, 2023

Is This the Greatest Shortcoming of the Human Race?

At SubOptic 2023, my colleague Tim Stronge and I brought back the Telecom Mythbusters to test a new series of myths.

I already covered my first two myths from our presentation: the cable lifespan myth and the 99% myth.

My third and final myth—the exponential growth myth—is based upon a quote that I found.

“The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.” –Albert Allen Bartlett

May 4, 2023

Do Submarine Cables Account For Over 99% of Intercontinental Data Traffic?

“Submarine cables account for over 99% of intercontinental data traffic” is regularly quoted in the press with no source given.

It’s time for some fact-checking.