It is not obvious to me that there is a Pacific cable capacity glut. For example, I sold a DS3 from LA to Hong Kong for $6K MRC whereas the last time a wholesale TransAtlantic DS3 rivaled that figure was 2001.
Now you could argue that one needs to look at pricing on a mileage-adjusted basis since the typical TransPacific cable spans a much greater distance than its TransAtlantic counterpart. But operating costs are not proportional to mileage - the bulk of your operating expense is what you pay the undersea maintenance companies such as Global Marine and Tyco Submarine and Alcatel. And their annual charges are not very sensitive to distance. What is peculiar about the Pacific is the lack of new products. For example, it's extremely difficult to get any Ethernet transport on many routes such as LA/Sydney or into India. Yes, there is some Ethernet/IP junk, but that doesn't meet most of my clients' performance standards. It is IP masquerading as Ethernet. In fact, it is very difficult to find Packet-over-SDH Ethernet even on the all-important LA/HK route. To sum up, I do believe the median Pacific cable enjoys a substantial margin advantage over the median Atlantic There is only TransAtlantic cable that is particularly well right now, largely due to its unique physical diversity and footprint. Roderick S. Beck Director of EMEA Sales Hibernia Atlantic 1, Passage du Chantier, 75012 Paris http://www.hiberniaatlantic.com Wireless: 1-212-444-8829. Landline: 33-1-4346-3209. French Wireless: 33-6-14-33-48-97. AOL Messenger: GlobalBandwidth [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ``Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.'' Albert Einstein. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] on behalf of Deepak Jain Sent: Sat 9/22/2007 12:44 AM To: nanog list Subject: New TransPacific Cable Projects: This is what happens when I stay late at the office on a Friday. http://www.commsday.com/node/186 - Google participating in a new Transpacific Cable Project http://www.networkworld.com/news/2006/121806-verizon-business.html - Verizon on a different transpacific project And all the same articles say there is already an overpriced glut of capacity along these routes and a glut of fiber laying ocean vessels. Good times. Rather than having competition, everyone is just building their own routes that they won't share at wholesale prices to folks in the wholesale buying business. :) Ahh... reminds me of the late 90s when everyone was building dark fiber networks for the surge of demand that was coming. Now, the remaining folks are buying up all the unused bits to constrain capacity. If I were a stakeholder in transpacific cables, I'd be leasing up the next 3-6 years of the entire global cable laying fleet. :) Deepak Jain AiNET This e-mail and any attachments thereto is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may be proprietary and/or legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this email, and any attachments thereto, without the prior written permission of the sender is strictly prohibited. If you receive this e-mail in error, please immediately telephone or e-mail the sender and permanently delete the original copy and any copy of this e-mail, and any printout thereof. All documents, contracts or agreements referred or attached to this e-mail are SUBJECT TO CONTRACT. The contents of an attachment to this e-mail may contain software viruses that could damage your own computer system. While Hibernia Atlantic has taken every reasonable precaution to minimize this risk, we cannot accept liability for any damage that you sustain as a result of software viruses. You should carry out your own virus checks before opening any attachment
