ARE OTTS FROM MARS, AND CARRIERS FROM VENUS? BY LARRY SCHWARTZ
S
ome submarine cable industry parties allege that OTTs are negatively impacting the fundamental structural makeup of the industry with their ever-increasing involvement in the build and operations of subsea cables. And there is no shortage of carriers that would like to see OTTs go back to the days of buying wholesale transport for all routes.
80
Suffice to say that OTTs and carriers seemingly come from different worlds when they approach international transport. But the reality is the industry itself is changing, not just with OTTs’ greater involvement but with many carriers correspondingly moving away from leading subsea cable proj-
ects. Each market participant is rationally pursuing plans based on its own business objectives, which is exactly how participants in any industry sector should behave.
Perhaps the fundamental difference can be distilled down to the fact that OTTs (and an increasing number of carriers) view a submarine cable