ANALYTICS
BY KIERAN CLARK
SUBMARINE TELECOMS MARKET SECTOR REPORT: Global Outlook Edition
T
o address the growing reporting and analysis needs of the submarine fiber industry, STF Analytics continues its Market Sector Report series – designed to provide the industry with the information it needs to make informed business decisions. The Submarine Telecoms Market Sector Report is a bi-monthly product covering a specific sector of the submarine fiber industry, coinciding with the theme of each issue of the SubTel Forum Magazine. The third edition of this report provides a global overview of the state of the submarine fiber industry. STF Analytics collected and analyzed data derived from a variety of public, commercial and scientific sources to best analyze and project
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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
market conditions. While every care is taken in preparing this report, these are our best estimates based on information provided and discussed in this industry. The following Executive Summary provides an overview of the topics addressed in this month’s report.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The submarine fiber industry has seen something of return to form the last two years with 17 cable systems and over 90,000 kilometers of cable added in 2017 and 8 cable systems and 45,000 kilometers in 2018. (Figure 1) The last time more than 90,000 kilometers of cable was added to the global network was 2009 and from
2011 to 2016 no more than 40,000 kilometers was added in a given year. System capacity has also risen alongside an overall increase in systems added, resulting in a nearly exponential increase in global capacity. Since 2014, the average capacity of a submarine fiber system has risen steadily from 25 terabits per second (Tbps) to 60 Tbps. Additionally, more new systems are making use of 6, 8 or even 12 fiber pairs providing an even higher capacity ceiling. (Figure 2) Much of this growth has been spurred on by the changing dynamic in system ownership observed since 2016 – when Over-the-Top (OTT) providers begun to move from capacity purchasers to cable developers.