What is interesting is this new deep sea design. In the old days
cables had 4 to 8 pairs max. Now I am seeing Orange talking
about 18 pairs and 24 pairs. With more widely regeneration.
Because of the way current submarine cables are being built (mainly
by the content folk, less by traditional telco's), limiting the
number of fibre pairs does not make sense anymore, especially for
them since they would be partnering with some carriers along the
route.
I mean, you're already laying it. Fibre, itself, doesn't cost that
much... the cost is elsewhere.