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?
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.)
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.
Over the last decade, there has been substantial growth in demand for international bandwidth on major subsea cable routes.
In response to this rapid pace of demand growth (our research implies that demand is more than doubling every two years), there are over $2 billion of new cables entering service this year alone.
In short, demand is going up and we're seeing new cables.
This all makes sense.
But who is actually using this capacity? And will international demand continue to grow so expeditiously?
Research Director Alan Mauldin is known on the conference circuit for presentations like "Is Your Planned Submarine Cable Doomed?" and "Is a Mass Extinction of Submarine Cables Looming?" and "The Dystopian Future of International Networks."
His latest review of submarine cable trends took us to a happier place as he explored the utopian qualities of the submarine cable landscape in 2021.
What is the impact of COVID-19 on international bandwidth demand so far? How are carriers responding? Are we building enough cables to keep up?
Fear not. Alan Mauldin has answers.
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.
What would Doc Brown do? This might be a weird question to ponder at a TeleGeography telecom workshop. But here we are.
During this year's annual telecom rundown at PTC, Research Director Alan Mauldin took the audience time hopping through bandwidth demand drivers, interregional routing changes, cable landings, cable investments, and future cable requirements.
The rapid pace of demand growth is only going to require more international bandwidth in the coming years. While there's certainly lots of investment in new systems, cables built in the late 1990s and early 2000s continue to play a key role in global connectivity. But are their days numbered?
It seems more likely than ever that some of these cables will begin to go "extinct" in the near future as they are retired from service.
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