Global Bandwidth Consumption Grows 63% in 2007

International bandwidth grew 63 percent in 2007, which just about matches the 50 percent annual growth in bandwidth use reported by SureWest Communications, an independent telco, as well as other broadband access providers.

For buyers of global bandwidth, it appears aggregate prices were "stable," as industry watchers note, meaning a decline of 10 percent or in some cases 20 percent on capacity prices. Global bandwidth, especially on well-supplied routes, tends to decline over time as buyers consume more optical products that offer lower price-per-megabit ratios.

However, prices are opaque, and pace of price changes varies dramatically—by route, by service provider, and by bandwidth product, TeleGeography notes. There can be quite a lot of price variation even on a single route, and for a single product, as these prices for London to Paris indicate.