Times couldn't be better for service providers—and enterprise customers—looking for global bandwidth. The happy confluence of worldwide telecom deregulation, the Internet explosion and advances in optical network technology is creating a new world order exemplified by the unprecedented emergence of transnational carriers and self-styled global players. Ovum, a consulting firm, noted in a recent study that there are currently more than 20 pan-European networks in service, under construction or in the planning stage. The expectation is that usage will surge to fill these networks. At face value, the numbers are encouraging: Pan-European traffic will increase more than 30 times its current total by 2005, with the Internet accounting for more than 90 percent of the growth, according to Ovum.
展开▼
