Networks

Apr 14, 2025

Fabulous, Unforgiving, Ever-Changing: Carl Roberts on His Career in Telecom and Tech

Carl Roberts is feeling energized.

The senior ICT executive and advisor to a myriad of C-suite teams—who is also the newest addition to TeleGeography's roster of Preferred Partners—recently chatted with the TeleGeography team about his time in the industry and the constant changes that have been an energizing force in his career.

Apr 3, 2025

One Patent to Rule Them All? Demystifying China’s “Terrifying” Cable-Cutting Tech

My family has probably watched Lord of the Rings a dozen times or more1. We can (and sometimes will) quote entire passages from the films.

Apr 2, 2025

Bandwidth Demand is Strong in Latin America, But It's Slowing

It's true. The localization of content, applications, and compute in local hubs like São Paulo—paired with submarine cable delays, network buildout logistics, and the simple fact that bandwidth demand can't keep doubling—has slowed bandwidth demand in Latin America.

Mar 17, 2025

What's the Difference Between Lit Capacity and Potential Capacity?

When discussing submarine cable bandwidth, it’s crucial to distinguish between lit capacity and potential capacity.

These terms are not interchangeable, and the difference between them explains a key aspect of the submarine cable market.

Mar 12, 2025

Data Centers 101: Technical Terms You Should Know

From cross connects to PUE, the data center industry is packed with technical jargon.

Today, we’re breaking down 13 key colocation terms. Whether you're new to the field or just need a refresher, this simple glossary can help.

Mar 4, 2025

It’s Time To Learn About Latency

Latency is a term that’s frequently cited when discussing long-haul networks. But what is it really?

Feb 27, 2025

How Many Submarine Cables Are There, Anyway?

TeleGeography’s Submarine Cable Map recently hit a new milestone: depicting over 650 cable systems.

As of February 2025, that’s a whopping 570 in-service systems, with another 81 planned.

The number of cable systems we study is constantly increasing. This is due to massive investment in this infrastructure—both along major routes and to small islands—as well as our ongoing efforts to track global systems in more detail. 

The number of in-service systems is greater now than in any other year within the last two decades.

Feb 19, 2025

Evaluating Interconnection Market Health

What makes a city a hub? And what makes a hub healthy?

Before we answer these questions, we must acknowledge that the interconnection market is not a homogeneous thing. It's an ecosystem comprised of numerous critically interdependent parts, much like a body or a machine.

Feb 17, 2025

The State of the Network: Your 2025 Update on the Telecom Industry

Hello, gentle readers, and welcome to the 2025 State of the Network Report—our eighth edition.

The TeleGeography team spent the last year compiling market surveys, building algorithms, and analyzing emerging trends, and now we're ready to share the highlights. 

Feb 6, 2025

The Podcast Goes Dark! (Dark Fiber, That is)

We haven't been getting enough fiber here at TeleGeography Explains the Internet, but we're about to change that.

Nutritional jokes aside, this week, we welcome Todd Chapman, a veteran in fiber development, to the hot seat. Todd walks us through the ins and outs of Layer 0 of the physical infrastructure underlying data transmission. Some classic explaining of the internet. 

In this episode, you'll get a walkthrough of the process that takes a fiber project from manufacturing to lit service—get ready to learn a thing or two about different types of fiber and their uses. We also get some good explanations of the dark fiber market and an overview of when enterprises might be interested in leasing dark fiber instead of lit service.

Here's a glimpse at what we discussed. Scroll to the bottom to listen to the whole discussion in its fiber-rich glory.