Network

Cutting off Europe? A Look at How the Continent Connects to the World

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. 

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?

The Factors Shaping Global Internet Development

The combined effects of new internet-enabled devices, growing broadband penetration in developing markets, higher broadband access rates, and bandwidth-intensive applications will continue to fuel strong internet traffic growth.

While end-user traffic requirements will continue to rise, not all of this demand will translate directly into the need for new long-haul capacity.

A variety of factors shape how the global internet will develop in coming years.

Simply Illuminating: Considering the Future of Optical Transport

Welcome back, podcast listeners. We're thrilled to dive into a new season of telecom tech talk.

First, you might have noticed that we look a little different than when we were last in your headphones. That's because we did a little old-fashioned rebranding while on summer break. What was once the WAN Manager Podcast is now TeleGeography Explains the Internet.

T-Mobile Offers Cogent a Lot of Bang for Its Buck

A dollar doesn’t go very far these days. That is, unless you’re Cogent Communications, and in the market to buy Sprint’s fiber assets from T-Mobile.

This surprising story kicks off our latest list of recommended telecom reads.

Measuring Provider Connectivity

If you want a single, simple number to identify the best-connected provider in the world, you may come away disappointed.

There are several ways to measure connectivity, and each highlights different strengths and weaknesses of a provider’s presence.

One basic metric is to count the number of unique Autonomous Systems (AS) to which a backbone provider connects, while filtering out internal company connections.

Here’s what we found.

Trans-Pacific Bandwidth Forecasts and Trends

New presentation alert.

Research Analyst Marvin Tan recently joined Ciena and Hawaiki for a webinar highlighting trans-Pacific submarine network opportunities.

Internet Traffic and Capacity Remain Brisk

The internet continues its return to normal—however one chooses to define this term—in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With our newly updated Global Internet Geography Research Service,we conclude that the COVID-related expansion of internet traffic and bandwidth was largely a one-off phenomenon, and that the trends we had been observing in recent years have reasserted themselves.

International internet bandwidth and traffic growth have been gradually slowing in recent years, but they remain brisk.

Let's talk about that a bit.

A 2022 Update on African Network Geography

Last week, Senior Research Manager Patrick Christian shared an African network geography update with the African Peering and Interconnection Forum.

Patrick's keynote showcased fresh TeleGeography data with a look at global bandwidth trends, followed by a deeper dive into African network trends.

If you weren't among the audience in Kigali, you can still catch the recording below.

There’s No Comparison to Fiber

If you've ever made a “telephone” with a pair of tin cans and a string, you have an idea of how the Internet works.

Even in 2022, modern global telecommunications still functions in a somewhat similar manner.