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.
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
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