IPUrbia

A few weeks ago, I posted some statistics on international Internet usage. These numbers are always fascinating and serve, to people who actually read them, as sort of an Internet usage myth buster. For example, the infamous bandwidth crunch (link omitted deliberately) seems a lot less ominous (the tubes are getting clogged!) when we realize that less than 10% of fiber capacity is actually lit, let alone used to capacity.

Well, apparently some investors got alarmed by the “bandwidth crunch” and ponied up some cash for additional underseas cabling; up to four new projects are underway in the Pacific region alone to bring total potential capacity up to 40 Tb/s. Given that current traffic is around a 1Tb/s, I agree with Om’s analysis that this is a bubble reminiscent of the 90s fiber build out. Still, while it’s not a project I plan on investing in anytime soon, I can’t say that I’m sad to see a capacity glut out there.