Buying b/w directly from undersea cable owners

I have a client that has the option of buying b/w directly from the undersea cable owners. Turns out that the new non-PTT owned cables, allow anyone to own STM-1's. Depending on who you use (Gemina, AC-1, etc.) prices hover around $7-11m purchase and around $250K/yr for maintenance. Since I do not know of the European counterpart to NANOG, I am hoping that people outside the USA (as well as inside) that have gone down this path can provide more info as to the pros and cons of buying from one of the standard carriers like Teleglobe, Sprint, Worldcom, etc. vs buying/owning the b/w yourself. Thanks, Hank