If you've read over our Submarine Cable Frequently Asked Questions, you know that cable faults are common. On average, there are over 100 each year.
Of course, as a society heavily dependent on these cables, we've gotten quite good at repairing them.
But what was the repair process like a few decades ago? How were we fixing cables back in the era of the Walkman?
Time for a trip down memory lane.
We're back at it with episode three of our five-part podcast special that explains the nuts and bolts of the internet.
You've come to the right place if you're looking to understand how all of those cat videos travel from the source to your phone.
We explained in episode two how the internet is made of transport networks to carry data over (mostly) fiber optic wires distributed around the world. And in the episode before that, we discussed how the internet is a network of networks operated by thousands of mostly private companies.
But we haven’t yet covered exactly how and where those networks meet and exchange traffic with each other and access their destinations.
So today, it's data center time.
Welcome back to our five-part podcast special that literally explains how the internet you know and love works.
Last week we covered the most basic question: what is the internet?
Today, we tunnel deeper, exploring the physical transport networks behind this seemingly invisible, omnipresent information superhighway.
At this year’s Pacific Telecommunications Council conference, I spent some time talking through TeleGeography’s latest pricing research findings and tackling the most common questions we've received over the past year.
In case you missed it, here's a recap of my Taylor Swift-themed presentation: Global Pricing Trends in a New Era.
If you've caught TeleGeography's podcast, you'll know that we endeavor to explain the business behind human connection every week. We've chatted about Wi-Fi, WAN, and everything in between.
We've audaciously called our show TeleGeography Explains the Internet, but we've never properly explained how the internet works and how bits get pushed around the globe. Until now.
That's right. We decided it was time to, quite literally, explain the internet.
With an estimated 750 million active subscriptions at the end of September 2023, China has the world’s largest 5G mobile market by far.
With 2024 now well and truly underway, we take a look at some of the top trends that GlobalComms subscribers can expect to see a lot more of this year.
On TeleGeography Explains the Internet, we often focus on the long-haul, zeroing in on the network portion of telecoms. Today, with the help of Tiago Rodrigues, President and CEO of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), we’re switching things up a bit.
Drawing upon his vast expertise in the Wi-Fi space, Tiago steps into the hot seat to outline the key issues in the wireless LAN.
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.
Many retail service providers, such as mobile operators, MVNOs, and cable broadband providers, rely heavily on wholesale carriers to transport and terminate their customers’ international calls.
Wholesale carriers terminated approximately 257 billion minutes of traffic in 2022, down 5% from 2021. Wholesale traffic declined at an average rate of 1% per year over the past ten years, compared to a -2% CAGR for overall traffic. Wholesale carriers terminated nearly three-fourths (72%) of international traffic in 2022, up from 70% the year before.
Traffic to mobile phones in emerging markets has spurred expansion in wholesalers' share of the overall market. In 2022, wholesale carriers terminated over 87% of traffic to Sub-Saharan Africa and South America. In contrast, wholesale carriers terminated only 56% of traffic to Western Europe.
Wholesale revenues have changed only marginally from ten years ago. But let’s take a moment to look under the hood.
