Fewer than ten years ago, the submarine cable market was steady and predictable, dominated by monopolistic carriers from each of the world's major markets. These carriers, grouped into "consortia," controlled most aspects of the submarine cable market. AT&T of the United States and KDD of Japan owned two of the three largest submarine systems suppliers. Cable systems were only built with the approval of the monopolistic carriers. This process often proved to be bureaucratic, sometimes led to shortages of capacity, and almost always resulted in inflated prices to consumers; however, for the most part it achieved the business goals of the carriers and made for a relatively predictable market. AT&T's decision to outsource the construction of a transatlantic submarine cable in the late-1990s led to the construction of Global Crossing's Atlantic Crossing-1 system, one of the most successful privately-financed projects in telecommunications history. In a massive stroke of luck, the system came online at the precise moment that the Internet began to be embraced by consumers in both Europe and North America. Caught shorthanded, dozens of carriers turned to the Atlantic Crossing-1 system to provide data capacity and in so doing gave rise to massive returns for Global Crossing.
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