Riya Bhagwan 
[Photo: File]
Rising fibre-optic cable costs are putting network expansion and connectivity growth across the Asia-Pacific region under pressure.
Fibre Network Council APAC Board Director Andrew Bond-Webster says growing demand from artificial intelligence and large-scale data centres is contributing to a global cable
shortage.
He highlights that geopolitical issues and increased demand have pushed up fibre prices, affecting the availability and cost of network infrastructure.
Bond-Webster says the shortage is creating challenges for fibre-to-the-home network expansion, particularly in lower-income and emerging markets.
He adds that the impact on subscriber numbers and network build-out rates will become clearer over the next 12 to 24 months.
“We are seeing in the FTTH segment of the market a significant impact on the take-up of FTTH and the deployment of FTTH networks across the region. Because basically the cost
of fiber has gone up to a point where the rollout of fiber optic networks and FTTH networks has become questionable in some areas of the low ARPU markets.”
He says the rising cost of fibre has reached a point where the rollout of fibre networks has become difficult to justify in some markets.
In Fiji, Vodafone says collaboration between service providers is helping manage costs and improve access to connectivity.
Vodafone Fiji Chief Technology Officer Vikash Prasad highlights that partnerships between companies with different infrastructure capabilities can make services more
affordable for customers.
He says collaboration between Telecom Fiji’s fibre infrastructure and Vodafone Fiji’s mobile infrastructure is helping bring services together at lower costs.
