The Bandwidth Glut is Over

Following several rough years, the global bandwidth market is showing signs of improved health: supply equilibrium, price stability, and competitor consolidation. Persistent international bandwidth demand growth has depleted inventories of unsold circuits on many submarine cables and on some segments of terrestrial networks. This has led many network operators, including VSNL, FLAG Telecom, Asia Netcom, and Telefonica, among others, to light additional wavelengths and fiber pairs on an as-needed basis. This incremental approach to managing spare circuit inventories means that lit bandwidth supply and bandwidth demand are coming into balance.

This doesn't mean a network construction boom is pending. Instead, operators will need to make more of what they already have -- most of the potential capacity in fiber networks remains untapped. According to the latest analysis released in TeleGeography's Global Bandwidth Research Service, by the end of 2006 little more than 14% of the potential capacity on major submarine cables will be lit.

TeleGeography's Global Bandwidth Research Service (formerly titled International Bandwidth) provides a range of market analysis, forecasts, and essential statistics on long-haul bandwidth supply, demand, prices, costs, and competition around the world. The scope of coverage includes both international and domestic terrestrial networks as well as submarine cables in every region. The content is divided into two main sections: market analysis and network profiles.

The analytical portion of Global Bandwidth quantifies past and present supply and demand for subsea and terrestrial capacity; reviews data on network construction, upgrade, and maintenance costs; presents a detailed analysis and data for circuit and wavelength pricing; and offers a primer on bandwidth products and contracts. The second section of Global Bandwidth contains detailed profiles of all major undersea cable networks as well as 137 carrier networks, which include product offerings, network maps, and contact information.

New features of Global Bandwidth for 2006 include:

- Quarterly email updates on the latest network deployments, mergers, and other consolidation
- More focused analysis on wholesale carrier competition, products, and pricing
- Quicker access to regional market analysis for the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Latin America, as well as submarine cable markets in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans
- Private client briefings on market trends for enterprise-wide subscribers

To learn more, please visit our website:

http://www.telegeography.com/products/ib/

You may also contact your regional account manager.

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Global Bandwidth Forecast Service – coming in June 2006

Subscribers to the Global Bandwidth Research Service are also eligible for significant discounts on the companion Global Bandwidth Forecast Service, which provides a comprehensive view on future bandwidth supply, demand, pricing, and revenues. Each quarter, subscribers will receive concise forecast review and updated spreadsheet with thousands of forecast data points covering:

- Bandwidth demand forecast for over 60 countries to 2012
- Price forecasts on major city-to-city routes across multiple capacities to 2012
- Bandwidth revenues on major global routes to 2010
- Demand break out by voice, IP, and private data networks