By Chris Alu
Internet players are investing over $30 billion per annum in physical networks, facilities and equipment, per annum culminating to nearly $100 billion between 2011 and 2013, says telecom specialist film, analysis mason.
The report indicated that $30 billion goes to the European countries, while Africa is left with nothing.
This is the first time an investment report has been captured in a comprehensive way, and highlights how Internet players are becoming major contributors to the fabric of the Internet, such as
data centers, submarine cables and the multitude of servers that store, process and serve content to end users.
This is necessary to deliver the content that end users want, and comes in addition to the money these companies spend on content and software.
It benefits the Internet as a whole, end users, and the other players who invest in the physical fabric of the Internet.
Companies highlighted in the study include ‘pure’ online companies such as Spotify, Google or Facebook, as well as online businesses of multi-platform players such as BBC and the New York Times.
Europe is the largest destination for this investment, it is said that over $10 billion goes into European networks and facilities annually.
This made Europeans a hub for Internet traffic. Many international cables in Europe, hosts the world’s largest IXPs, and has a large population of Internet users,said the report.
And as a result, it is attracting investment by US companies, especially in data centre facilities, as well as investment by local Internet players such as Spotify and the BBC.
“Internet players are already putting big money on the table and into the ground and under the sea. They are getting into increasingly large partnerships with investors and telecom operators. That comes in addition to investment in their core business of content and software.” said David Abecassis and Andrew Kloeden, co-authors of the report.
