The technology market experienced a number of convulsions over the course of 2020. Particularly in areas linked to industry and the wholesale market, the dark fibre sector has grown significantly. According to data from Spain’s National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC), in 2017, business volumes stood at around €170 million. That figure had increased to €200 million by the end of 2019, and forecasts show that figures will reflect even greater growth during the year the pandemic hit.

The situation created by COVID-19 has ‘shaken’ the strategic plans of various stakeholders hoping for a slice of the dark fibre ‘cake’, especially when facing the vital necessity to work with higher volumes and more reliable data traffic, lower latency and a more secure digital exchange landscape,  alongside the definitive leap forward, in expectation of generalised future use, of applying technology in industrial contexts – from the IoT to machinery robotisation to the interaction of artificial intelligence…

Neutral operators setting the standard in dark fibre

2020 has done nothing but confirm the trend, which began years ago, taking various sectors towards irreversible digitalisation, particularly those that will serve as economic powerhouses in a technology and globalisation based society. Given our consumption and data transmission needs – increasing exponentially in volume – fibre optic has a key role to play in this trend and, in particular, dark fibre, as it relates to connectivity infrastructure yet to be developed.

In this sense, dark fibre operators are the market stakeholders everyone is looking at. The equidistant positions of neutral operators guarantee strategic movement that takes into account the complete panorama and not just current needs, subject to regulatory changes, the evolution of the technology itself and its adoption, both by the public at large and business sectors.

lyntia, as one of the key neutral operators setting the industry standard, has taken these long-term projections into account and, since mid-2019, has acquired the rights to use Iberdrola’s fibre for €260 million, making it one of the preferred strategic partners for the companies and industries that want to access fibre optic with certain guarantees and achieve that all-important digital transformation.

Dark fibre set to play a key role in data processing

As a result, it’s neutral operators like lyntia who can offer the industrial and business sectors those vital guarantees they need at a time when we’re all witnessing a technological evolution with all the ingredients of being a true game changer. According to consultancy firm Gartner Research, by 2025, 75% of data will be processed differently than it is today.

The main drivers of this change are 5G technology – which is currently in the process of being implemented and expanded – and edge computing, a more complete, faster and more detailed way of processing information near its point of creation. This came about through significant increases both in terms of the scale and complexity of information, exceeding the capacity of existing infrastructure to date, focussing on AI and cloud computing.

For secure handling of much larger and more complex amounts of data, dark fibre appears to be the safest bet for the industrial and business sectors. For this very reason, while the rest of the key market players are still positioning themselves to face a demanding and challenging short term, at lyntia, we can respond with guarantees and the security of being fully focussed on dark fibre.