REGIONAL SYSTEMS

A Snapshot Of Where We Are And Where We Are Headed

The submarine fiber market continues to grow through 2022 at a similar rate to that observed since 2016. Some regions have begun to slow their pace with fewer systems planned beyond 2022, while other regions are seeing a substantial increase to their overall system count through to 2025. There are some overbuild concerns considering the rapid pace of system development over the last few years, but many cable systems are reaching the end of their economic and technological lifespans and will need replacing. Business models around the world are changing, as more of the submarine fiber industry is driven by Hyperscaler infrastructure needs and the desire to connect data centers rather than population centers. The bulk of Hyperscaler infrastructure and major data center clusters are currently located in the United States, Europe, East Asia, and South America. As a result, the regions most affected by this trend are the Transatlantic, Transpacific, and Americas regions. (SubTel Forum Analytics Division of Submarine Telecoms Forum, Inc., 2020)

REGIONAL SNAPSHOT:

Current Systems: 19

Capacity: 970 Tbps

Planned Systems: 4

Planned Capacity: 782 Tbps