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Pan-European Carriers cut back sharply on fiber deployment - Market Intelligence - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Fiber Optics Business, Jan 15, 2002

Fiber deployment on long-distance routes by pan-European carriers will fall dramatically in 2002, a new study from KMI Research shows. According to Fiberoptic Networks of Pan-European Carriers: Market Developments & Forecast, pan-European fiber deployments peaked at 57,000 route-km in 2001 and deployments in 2002 will be only a tenth of those in 2001.

The new KMI report is a complete update of a 1999 study that accurately forecast a major decline in pan-European fiber deployment in the 2001-2002 timeframe. The new report profiles 27 major fiber-based pan-European carriers, focusing on their own-built network, segments under lease (indefensible right to use or IRU), and network plans. It analyzes these carriers both separately and as a group by route size (route-kin) added to the network each year, average fiber counts, and amount of fiber deployed (fiber-kin). Individual route maps for each carrier are included in the report.

The time period covered starts with the first pan-European installments in 1997 and continues through planned installments in 2002. At an aggregate level, the report forecasts annual fiber deployment by pan-European carriers through 2006.

Following the massive build-out from 1997 to 2001, pan-European network expansion is coming to an abrupt halt in 2002 and into 2003. The decline results from the end of a construction cycle, less availability of financing, falling capital-expenditure budgets, and business-performance problems that ave led some carriers to bankruptcy procedures. Of the 27 carriers profiled, five are experiencing financial problems or have sold their networks. Carriers are planning about 580,000 fiber-km in deployment in 2002, but some of this could be canceled.

KMI expects fiber deployment to dip again to 180,000 fiber-km in 2003, just enough for some carriers to build small spurs to prospective cities not yet served by their networks. The focus in 2002 and beyond is making the most of current assets, and carriers are likely to continue a trend of consolidation. For more news from KMI visit: www.kmicorp.com/news.htm.>