Subsea Cables & Internet Infrastructure

Probably not. Right now carriers are charging $7K to $9K per month for a 100G wave linking IColo1 and IColo2. This is the pricing of a cozy oligopoly, not a competitive market. Moreover, the carriers have inflated their costs by using brand name hardware when comparable products like Smart Optics offer 50% to 60% discounts on both the price tag and operating expenses (there is good Layer 1 networking gear with no recurring costs in the form of port activation fees or licensing). I can refer you to a smart optics VAR. In contrast, you can lease today recently manufactured dark fibre pairs between IColo 1 and IColo 2 for $1,100 per month for the 18 kilometer primary path and $1,400 for the 23 kilometer backup path. So for $2,500 a month on a 3 year contract you can get a fully diverse fibre ring between these two important data centers. Moreover, it is unlikely you need long range optics. Each fibre pair can do 10 to 20 terabits.

Term: 2 Years. 2Africa Djibouti CLS cross connects are $125 per month and 100G backhaul to Djibouti Data Center is $1100 per month. 

A point: Most carrier neutral Mumbai data centers. Z point: SG1, Singapore. Term: 1 Year. NRC: $10K.

EIG upgrade has been delayed until 2028. Three year MRC: Under $40K for right customer. Life of system I00G wave IRU ~ $1 million. 

A point: IColo 1 or IColo 2. Z point: JB1. Term: 2 Years. Customer responisible for cross connects. 2Africa is the Lambourghini of African subsea cables. Better designed than other system with the possible exception of Equiano. Deeply buried in coastal waters and routed to avoid danger spots.

LS1/CT1; $17,500 MRC; Two year term. LS1/OADC; $17,500 MRC; Two year term.

MRC: $19,200. Term: 2 Years. Lisbon/London backhaul route protected. 

And I have the solution to your Lagos metro network nightmare. Competitively priced and protected 100G waves using a unique right of way largely immune from civil and private construction harm.

Two year term.

MRC: $32.5K. A point: Most Mumbai DCs. Z point: SG3.  Cable: IAX.

Mombasa Icolo 1/Djibouti CLS; $23,500 MRC; 3 Years. Protected backhaul to Djibiouti data center only $1,050 extra. 🙂  Mombasa Icolo 2/JB Terraco; $25,400 MRC; 3 Years. Backhaul protected.

RTD: 135 milliseconds. Term: 1 Year. Only one wave available.

A point: SG1. Z point: FR5. Term: 3 Years. Routing: Avoids Marseille and clocks 139 ms RTD. 

Marseille/Mumbai routes have limited capacity. No guarantee of timely repair. IAX is a new, state-of-the art system. IAX has the only high capacity Mumbai/Singapore route. A point is any major Mumbai carrier hotel. No separate backhaul charges. MRC is comprehensive. Z point is SG5. Terms up to five years. Three year 100G MRC: $35K. Volume discounts available. Customer is responsible for cross connects.

Mumbai/Singapore; IAX Cable; 100G Wave; $35K MRC; 3 Years. Secaucus Equinix/Ashburn Equinix; 100G Wave; Diverse to Usual Suspects; $1,350 MRC; 5 Years. Ghana/Nigeria; 2Africa Cable; 100G Wave; $20.5 MRC; 3 Years. LA Coresite/Slough Equinix; Route protected 10G; $3250 MRC; 1 Year. Dallas Equinix/Ashburn Equinix; 100G; $2200 MRC; 3 Years. Singapore/California; 10G; SEA-US; $7500 MRC; 2 Years.  Singapore/Tokyo; 100G; ADC; $15K MRC; 3 Years.  Singapore/Marseille; 100G; Peace; Non-Chinese carrier & equipment; $19.5K MRC; 3 Years.  Tallinn/Amsterdam; 100G; $2500 MRC; 3 Years.  Sofia/Istanbul; 100G; Highly stable and diverse paths; $6,500 MRC; 3 Years.

 African subsea cable leased capacity prices have bottomed around $18K to $22K MRC per 100G per month for Equiano and 2Africa. Examples include Lisbon to Lagos and Ghana to Lagos. Prices are not going lower. First of all, Google kept some Equiano capacity for itself and Facebook kept 4 of 2Africa's 16 pairs for itself. Moreover, 2Africa lands in over 25 countries. So average capacity per country excluding Facebook is approximately 6 Tbps. That figure would fall further if the Red Sea segment is ever completed. Finally, all consortium members for both cables are keeping some capacity for their own Internet backbones. Corroborating evidence that prices will remain stable is that consortium carriers are reluctant to sell wavelength or spectrum IRUs. Carriers sell IRUs for two reasons. The first is network asset portfolio rebalancing. If a carrier has plentiful capacity on cable X with relatively low pricing, it might sell an IRU to obtain capacity on cable Y that it can ...

A point: Most Mumbai carrier neutral data centres. Z point: SG5, Singapore. Term: 3 Years. MRC: $38K. NRC: $20K. Customer responsible for cross connects.

A point: Ashburn Equinix or 56 Marietta, Atlanta. Z point: Madrid Interxion 2. Term: 3 Years Bandwidth: 100G. Service: Layer 1. MRC: $5,990. NRC: $0.

***No European terrestrial routes are more subject to outages than those linking EU nations to Turkey via Bulgaria. Many so-called diverse routes share a common pinch point, namely the same conduit system alongside a Bulgarian road that goes to the Turkish border. Rumor has it that this conduit system was not properly permitted and hence lacks proper legal protection. Construction-caused outages are rampant on the Bulgarian side of the border. Outages peak in the summer.  ***Fully diverse diverse routes linking Sofia Telepoint to Mednautilus, Istanbul. Several border crossings. Three year 100G wave MRC: 6500€. No use of oil or gas pipelines. Two fully diverse 100G waves are 12K Euros.

LS1/PAIX Accra; 100G; Three Years; $25K MRC. London/Lagos; 10G; Three Years; $10K MRC. 2Africa cross connect charges are limited to $150 per month and the cable's reliability will be much better than SAT-3, MainOne, WACS, and ACE. It is buried deeper with better designed back haul and avoids the Congo and the Le Trou Sans Fond canyons. Note the Red Sea segment from Egypt to Oman is incomplete. There is no schedule for its completion.