Europe, India and China are three of the regions heavily impacted by the shortage of fibre-optic cables, which is expected to delay several state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure projects.
The surge in demand for these materials and the supply chain disruptions caused by Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine have led to fibre costs rising by as much as 70 per cent since March 2021. While a fibre-kilometre was priced at $3.70 at the time, companies are now paying up to $6.30 for the same amount, according to market intelligence agency Cru Group.
“Given that the cost of deployment has suddenly doubled, there are now questions around whether countries are going to be able to meet targets set for infrastructure build, and whether this could have an impact on global connectivity,” stated Michael Finch, an analyst at Cru.
In addition to traditional telecoms players, Big Tech companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Facebook proprietor Meta are also...