For telcos, cable-laying déjà vu all over again?

It seems like it was only a couple of years ago (is it seven already?) that telcos were slinging webs of undersea cable across the globe like Spiderman on speed. The result? An excess of capacity that flooded the market and still hasn't been used up.

A new study from TeleGeography says a nascent boom in undersea cabling is blooming anew, with as many as 25 projects worth some $6.4 billion planned between now and 2010. Folly you say? Not according to the industry, which believes several factors are at work, including apps like P2P, YouTube, and other video demands that "consume staggering amounts of bandwidth," the need for redundancy, and improving service to underserved areas like the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean. Check out the Financial Times story [1]

Related articles:
Telcos pursue $700 million Europe-India cable Telco cable report [2]
$300 million Unity cable to link U.S. to Japan Unity cable report [3]
Med Sea cable cut disrupts service Cable cut report [4]