By any measure the submarine fiber optic cable market had a huge year in 2017.  There were positive developments on every front and an activity level that has rarely been seen before. 

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New Cables Entering Service

  • More than a dozen new cable systems reached Ready for Service (RFS) status, which totaled:
    • More than 70,000 kilometers of cable
    • More than 400 Tbps of design capacity
  • New cables were deployed in every ocean, including the Arctic

New Contract Awards

  • New contracts, by amount of cable called for, were up 22% over 2016
  • Strong growth continued in the Pacific, but all regions saw new system contracts
  • The transpacific Jupiter system was the largest to go to contract at 14,000 kilometers

2017 contracts chart

New Project Announcements

  • Also up 22% over 2016
  • 2017 saw the largest amount (by cable) of new projects since SubCableWorld began tracking in 2011
  • Geographically, these projects span the globe from the Aleutians to the tip of South America and from the Great Lakes to the Central Pacific