“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.
“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.
Twenty years ago, the United States was very much at the center of the global internet.
In 2003, 98% of all interregional internet capacity and 42% of all international internet bandwidth was connected to the U.S. despite emerging intraregional capacity in Europe and Asia.
Submarine cables helped to enforce this centrality, and the highest capacity cables were connected to the U.S. Around this time, the U.S. was also among the cheapest places to connect to the internet.
So what’s happened to the U.S.’s role? Is the U.S. becoming less centric to the global network?
With the recent damage to the Nord Stream gas pipeline, there's been lots of talk about the potential risk to submarine telecommunications cables in Europe.
This incident has led to speculation about whether it would be possible to somehow “cut off” Europe from the rest of the world. While I don't want to speculate on the risk of sabotage, I did think it would be worthwhile to explain exactly how the continent connects to the rest of the world.
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?
You may have been scrolling through our blogs about recent cable breaks. Or perhaps there's been an uptick in cable fault chatter online. Either way, disruptions to service have made their way into a few spring headlines.
But it's worth remembering that where there have been faults, there have also been repairs.
There's been a lot of press about delayed approval for the Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN) cable, which is due to connect Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Philippines to the United States.
You can understand why this cable has gotten extra attention. Backers include Google, Facebook, and Pacific Light Data Communication (PLDC), which is owned by Chinese ISP Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Group.
While the whole system is awaiting approval from U.S. authorities, Google and Facebook have requested that the FCC allow activation of the Taiwan and Philippines portions of the cable.
Anyone who follows the submarine cable sector knows that a lot of cables have been built in recent years—and investments in new cables keep coming.
I gave a presentation at Submarine Networks World 2019 in Singapore titled "Is Your Planned Submarine Cable Doomed?" My goal was not to identify particular planned cables that I think are doomed to fail, but rather to highlight some of the key flaws we often see when assessing cable operator business plans on behalf of investors.
