The impact of the changing telecommunications environment on the submarine cable industry today

摘要

The decade of the nineties ahs witnessed a significant change in the telecommunications environment. This change has been characterized by many develpments, including regulatory reform and with it a surge of privatizations which have increased the level of telecom infrastructure building and investment activity by both traditional players and a new breed of telecom entrepreneur/investor. Carriers, once wed to building capacity through traditional consortium participation, are now pursuing multiple options to meet the challenging needs of the new telecom environment. Such options include purchasing equity interests in private construction joint ventures, buying other carriers, as well as purchasing capacity from carriers' carriers. Further evidence of a changing environment is manifested by new options available to cable suppliers. Suppliers can either pursue their traditional role of building and supplying cable to owner-carrier specifications or carete a new industry based on suplying, owning and managing cable network infrastructure; thus allowing carriers to concentrate on telecom services business. This paper examines these changes and assesses their impact on the ability of the submarine cable industry to accommodate them while still providing global telecom customers with the highest level of reliable, cost-effective and technologically advanced telecom systems.