Study: U.S. fiber cross-connect pricing is higher than Europe

A colocation pricing survey from TeleGeography found that fiber cross-connect pricing is much higher in the U.S. than in Europe. In North America, the median cross-connect price is $300, more than five times higher than $58, which is the median price in Europe. However, the cost of a two-year lease on a cabinet with one cross-connect and four kilowatts of power is about the same in Europe and the U.S. due to higher energy costs in Europe. 

But TeleGeography analyst Jon Hjembo notes that in configurations that have multiple cross-connects, that average monthly price differential grows significantly. For example, an average monthly price of a cabinet with five cross-connects in Dallas is 80 percent higher than the same configuration in Amsterdam.  

"In a growing battle for leverage in the colocation market, some operators have focused squarely on reducing, or even eliminating, cross-connect charges to gain a pricing advantage over competitors," Hjembo said. Ultimately, however, colocation does not have the same perceived value from one facility to the next, and price differences persist due to the influence of well-established data center ecosystems, which tend to command higher prices. Report