International Traffic

Abstract

Aside from multimedia, the other critical issue in the restructuring of telecoms is the development of international traffic which is worth roughly $70 billion a year. Only since the late 1960s has it been possible, for example, to conduct large numbers of simultaneous conversations via undersea cables. Since then progress has been swift, with the latest transatlantic fibre-optic cable having the capacity to provide 30 times the capacity for the same price as its counterpart of a decade ago. According to STC Submarine Systems, the cost of providing a transatlantic fibre telephone circuit fell by 90 per cent between 1987 and 1994, and it should fall further to 10 per cent of its 1994 level by 2000 (Financial Times, 18 September 1994).