Notes:
Bandwidth providers include operators offering capacity on their own
network and/or via fiber leased from other network providers. Providers
included were those who offered connectivity to three or more states at
155 Mbps (or higher) as part of their standard service offerings. Maps
are designed to illustrate intercity connectivity and do not
necessarily reflect the exact physical routing of fiber.
Figure 9. Volume-Based Discounts and Internet Growth
Bandwidth
customers have moved from small to large circuit purchases. In 1999,
for example, E-1 (2 Mbps) circuits accounted for half of all
international intra-European Internet links. By 2003, however, an
evolution toward large bandwidth circuits at STM-4 (622 Mbps) and
higher levels relegated E-1s to 13 percent of all intra-European
Internet circuits—equivalent to a mere 0.02 percent of total
intra-European Internet bandwidth. Purchasing patterns have shifted
thanks to increases in lit capacity on fiber-optic networks,
availability of volume-based discounts for large circuits, and
increased bandwidth requirements of buyers. Some bandwidth providers
have eschewed E-1 circuit sales altogether.
The
shifts in purchasing behavior have fostered significant Internet
bandwidth increases. The move from small E-1s to multi-gigabit circuits
has meant that a relative handful of new circuit deployments can have a
disproportionately large impact on international connectivity. Between
1999 and 2003, international intra-European Internet backbone providers
deployed only 49 STM-64 circuits out of 1,080 circuits of all sizes,
yet the new STM-64 circuits accounted for 82 percent of total
bandwidth.
