In addition to retail communications for businesses, traffic usage patterns have been expanded by carrier wholesale traffic, ISP access minutes and increasing IP backbone capacity requirements. A growing proportion of global traffic is being carried in and out of a number of key economic conurbations. Due to these factors, city arterial networks have increased significantly in number and capacity. Cities are challenging environments in which to build telecommunication networks - both in terms of physical build, new usage patterns and changing factors for competitive edge. The stakes are high but city networks represent the next major business opportunity and the stimulus for high-speed network demand.
Timing is critical for wider evaluation of the outlook and opportunities in Europe s key cities.
In extending City Fibre in Europe research in 1999, which has already looked at eight top business centres in Europe, Tarifica now proposes to examine 17 more key city hubs along the Gigabyte carrier routes.