Dark Fiber Network Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report by Fiber Type (Single Mode, Multi-mode), Network Type, By Material, By Application, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2024 - 2030

Research Methodology

A three-pronged approach was followed for deducing the dark fiber network market estimates and forecasts. The process has three steps: information procurement, analysis, and validation. The whole process is cyclical, and steps repeat until the estimates are validated. The three steps are explained in detail below:

Information procurement: Information procurement is one of the most extensive and important stages in our research process, and quality data is critical for accurate analysis. We followed a multi-channel data collection process for dark fiber network market to gather the most reliable and current information possible.

• We buy access to paid databases such as Hoover’s and Factiva for company financials, industry information, white papers, industry journals, SME journals, and more.
• We tap into Grand View’s proprietary database of data points and insights from active and archived monitoring and reporting.
• We conduct primary research with industry experts through questionnaires and one-on-one phone interviews.
• We pull from reliable secondary sources such as white papers and government statistics, published by organizations like WHO, NGOs, World Bank, etc., Key Opinion Leaders (KoL) publications, company filings, investor documents, and more.
• We purchase and review investor analyst reports, broker reports, academic commentary, government quotes, and wealth management publications for insightful third-party perspectives.

Analysis: We mine the data collected to establish baselines for forecasting, identify trends and opportunities, gain insight into consumer demographics and drivers, and so much more. We utilized different methods of dark fiber network market data depending on the type of information we’re trying to uncover in our research.

• Market Research Efforts: Bottom-up Approach for estimating and forecasting demand size and opportunity, top-down Approach for new product forecasting and penetration, and combined approach of both Bottom-up and Top-down for full coverage analysis.

• Value-Chain-Based Sizing & Forecasting: Supply-side estimates for understanding potential revenue through competitive benchmarking, forecasting, and penetration modeling.

• Demand-side estimates for identifying parent and ancillary markets, segment modeling, and heuristic forecasting.

• Qualitative Functional Deployment (QFD) Modelling for market share assessment.

Market formulation and validation: We mine the data collected to establish baselines for forecasting, identify trends and opportunities, gain insight into consumer demographics and drivers, and so much more. We utilize different methods of data analysis depending on the type of information we’re trying to uncover in our research.

• Market Formulation: This step involves the finalization of market numbers. This step on an internal level is designed to manage outputs from the Data Analysis step.

• Data Normalization: The final market estimates and forecasts are then aligned and sent to industry experts, in-panel quality control managers for validation.

• This step also entails the finalization of the report scope and data representation pattern.

• Validation: The process entails multiple levels of validation. All these steps run in parallel, and the study is forwarded for publishing only if all three levels render validated results.

Dark Fiber Network Market Categorization:

The dark fiber network market was categorized into four segments, namely fiber type (Single Mode, Multi-mode), network type (Metro, Long-haul), application (Telecom, Oil & Gas, Military & Aerospace, BFSI, Medical, Railway), and region (North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and Middle East & Africa)

Segment Market Methodology:

The dark fiber network market was segmented into fiber type, network type, application, and regions. The demand at a segment level was deduced using a funnel method. Concepts like the TAM, SAM, SOM, etc., were put into practice to understand the demand. We at GVR deploy three methods to deduce market estimates and determine forecasts. These methods are explained below:

Market research approaches: Bottom-up

• Demand estimation of each product across countries/regions summed up to from the total market.

• Variable analysis for demand forecast.

• Demand estimation via analyzing paid database, and company financials either via annual reports or paid database.

• Primary interviews for data revalidation and insight collection.

Market research approaches: Top-down

• Used extensively for new product forecasting or analyzing penetration levels.

• Tool used invoice product flow and penetration models Use of regression multi-variant analysis for forecasting Involves extensive use of paid and public databases.

• Primary interviews and vendor-based primary research for variable impact analysis.

Market research approaches: Combined

• This is the most common method. We apply concepts from both the top-down and bottom-up approaches to arrive at a viable conclusion.

Regional Market Methodology:

The dark fiber network market was analyzed at a regional level. The globe was divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, and Middle East & Africa, keeping in focus variables like consumption patterns, export-import regulations, consumer expectations, etc. These regions were further divided into eleven countries, namely, the U.S.; Canada; Mexico; the UK; Germany; France; Japan; China; India; Australia; Brazil..

All three above-mentioned market research methodologies were applied to arrive at regional-level conclusions. The regions were then summed up to form the global market.

Dark fiber network market companies & financials:

The dark fiber network market was analyzed via companies operating in the sector. Analyzing these companies and cross-referencing them to the demand equation helped us validate our assumptions and conclusions. Key market players analyzed include:

• AT&T Intellectual Property - AT&T Intellectual Property, a global provider of telecommunication, media, and technology services, operates mainly in four segments: Communications, Latin America, Warnermedia, and Xandr. The Communications segment, which accounted for 77% of the company’s total revenue in 2019, offers a range of services from wireline & wireless telecom to video and broadband fiber & Internet services. It also provides IP-based services, satellite video streaming services, and audio programming services under the AT&T PREPAID and DIRECTV brands. The Warnermedia segment provides multi-platform content and services, including licensed television programming, feature films, and over-the-top (OTT) services. It also offers home entertainment products and gaming devices. The Latin America segment delivers mobile services to both enterprise and residential consumers in Mexico and provides pay-TV service across 11 countries in the Caribbean and South America region. The Xandr segment uses customer insights from AT&T’s mobile, TV, and broadband services to deliver advanced advertising solutions to marketers. It also creates addressable, cross-screen advertising opportunities to deliver real-time campaign performance to publishers and advertisers. AT&T Intellectual Property, formerly known as SBC Communications Inc. until November 2005, provides 5G services to consumer and business applications across approximately 190 markets in the United States. Since 2005, the company has expanded its fiber deployment programs to around 22 million locations in the U.S.

• Consolidated Communications, Inc. - Consolidated Communications, Inc., a broadband and enterprise communication service provider, offers a variety of communication solutions to commercial, consumer, and carrier clients across 23 U.S. states. The company’s fiber network spans over 37,500 route miles, covering metro communities and rural areas. The company operates primarily in five business segments: Commercial and Carrier, Consumer, Subsidies, Network Access, and Other Products and Services. The Commercial and Carrier segment provides data and transport services, including VoIP phone and high-speed broadband Internet services, ranging from basic service plans to virtual hosted systems. It also offers commercial data services like private line data services, Ethernet services, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), and Software Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN). Additionally, it provides various voice services, such as conference calling, voicemail, and other customized calling services for business customers. The Consumer segment provides broadband, video, and voice services for consumers, including VoIP and data products and services, voice calling, voicemail, music, pay-per-view channels, and video-on-demand services for residential customers. The Subsidies segment offers affordable broadband services to state and federal customers in rural areas. The Network Access segment delivers long-distance call services, dedicated lines and trunks for enterprises, and interchange carriers. The Other Products and Services segment generates revenue from video advertising, telephone directory publishing, and billing and support services, among others.

• GTT Communications, Inc. - GTT Communications, Inc. is a multinational network provider that caters to large enterprises and carrier clients. Its global network spans over 600 points of presence (PoPs) across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, South America, the Middle East, and Australia, offering services in over 140 countries. The company provides a variety of services, including wide-area networking (WAN), internet, transport, infrastructure, unified communication, and managed services. Its WAN services include SD-WAN, MPLS, and Virtual Private LAN Service (VPLS). Additionally, GTT Communications offers dedicated ethernet and video transport services. It primarily provides fiber network solutions to large enterprise offices, data centers, and media hubs. Its clientele includes Over-The-Tops (OTTs) providers, internet-based technology companies, large banks, and other third-party service providers. The company also offers colocation services in over 100 facilities across North America and Europe. GTT Communications supplies both long haul G.655 dark fiber and metro G.652 dark fiber to businesses, data center facilities, and other customers worldwide. Its long-haul fiber network integrates with the metro fiber assets across Europe, providing the extensive reach necessary to build an end-to-end network with a single supplier.

• Colt Technology Services Group Limited - Colt Technology Services Group Limited is a private network provider that connects over 900 data centers across North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. With a presence in more than 32 countries, 212 cities, and 51 metro area networks worldwide, the company has deployed approximately 187,000 km of fibers. The company offers Software Defined Networks (SDN), Network Function Virtualization (NFV), and cloud services to enterprise customers. It provides a range of products and services under various segments including optical, business internet, virtual private networks (VPN), ethernet, voice, cybersecurity, cloud, and data centers. In the optical product segment, the company delivers dark fiber, long haul fiber network bandwidth, private optical network, among other services. It also offers IP access, SD-WAN, IP VPN, and DDoS protection solutions to business customers. Under the cybersecurity services segment, the company provides managed firewall services, network encryption services, and secured network gateways. Moreover, the company’s dedicated cloud access segment offers a secure private network connection between office locations, data centers, and cloud service providers. It also provides voice services, phone lines, and systems for enterprises, wholesalers, and resellers across 29 countries.

• Comcast Corporation - Comcast Corporation, a U.S.-based network solution provider, offers a variety of products and services across three business segments: enterprise, small business, and xfinity. It serves various industries, including financial services, healthcare, hospitality, retail, restaurants & food services, education, and government. In the enterprise segment, Comcast provides data networking, cloud solutions, unified communications, cybersecurity services, managed services, and business TV solutions. It delivers fiber-based ethernet network services, ethernet dedicated internet, private ethernet lines, ethernet virtual private lines, and cell backhaul network solutions. The company connects to over 600 data centers across the U.S. with its fiber-based ethernet network, partnering with key data center partners like Digital Realty, Equinix, Inc., and CoreSite Realty Corporation. Comcast’s fiber network spans nearly 29 national networks across 39 states in the U.S., with around 150,000 miles of fibers providing unified connectivity to both large and small business customers. For the small business segment, Comcast offers internet, phone, business TV, and cloud solutions. These include cloud-based phone services, business internet, private and public TV, in-room entertainment, video monitoring services, and wifi solutions. The xfinity segment caters to residential applications, offering solutions like internet, TV & streaming, mobile, home security, and phone devices.

• CenturyLink - CenturyLink, a global communications company, offers a broad range of integrated services to business and residential customers across 60 countries, with a strong presence in the U.S. The company’s operations are divided into five segments: International & Global Accounts Management (IGAM), Enterprise, Small & Medium Business (SMB), Wholesale, and Consumer. Their offerings encompass IP & data services, transport & infrastructure, voice & collaboration, and IT & managed services. IP & data services include VPN data networks, IP, ethernet, and content delivery among others. Transport & infrastructure services comprise dark fiber, wavelengths, private lines, colocation & data center services, and more. The voice & collaboration segment provides local & long-distance voice and VoIP services. Lastly, IT & managed services include managed and information technology services. CenturyLink boasts an extensive fiber network of approximately 450,000 route miles, connecting around 170,000 fiber-based enterprise buildings to both public and private data centers, as well as subsea networks. In a significant development, CenturyLink acquired Level 3 Communications, Inc. in November 2017 through a series of merger transactions.

• NTT Communications Corporation - NTT Communications Corporation, a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, is a global telecommunication service provider. The company’s primary business involves providing inter-prefectural communication services, internet-related services, and international communication services. It operates under the long-distance & international communications business segment of NTT, Inc. The company’s offerings include network services such as VPN services, internet & cloud connectivity, and hybrid WAN services. It also provides a range of consulting services related to operations and management. NTT Communications Corporation has a significant global footprint, with operations in over 190 countries. It has a strong presence in Asia, with operations in over 62 cities across 18 Asia Pacific countries, excluding Japan.

• Verizon - Verizon, a U.S.-based mobile communication provider, along with its subsidiaries, offers a variety of services such as communications, information, and entertainment products to consumers, businesses, and government agencies. The company operates mainly through three business segments: wireless, wireline, and corporate & others. The wireless segment provides wireless communications products and services in the U.S. on both postpaid and prepaid basis. The company is investing heavily to enhance the density and capacity of their 4G LTE and upcoming 5G network to meet the growing demand for high bandwidth. The wireline segment offers a range of communication products and services, including corporate networking solutions, security & managed network services, video & data services, and domestic & long-distance voice services. To meet the increasing demand for high bandwidth, the company is transitioning from conventional copper cables to optical-fiber cables. The corporate and other segment includes media businesses like Verizon Connect, telematics business, and other businesses. This segment also incorporates the business revenue of Yahoo! Inc., which was acquired by Verizon in June 2017.

• Windstream Communications, LLC - Windstream Communications, LLC, a subsidiary of Windstream Holdings, Inc., is a provider of advanced network communications and technology solutions. It serves a wide range of customers, including residential consumers, small and large businesses, carrier partners, and enterprise organizations across the U.S. The company’s offerings are categorized into three segments: residential, business, and enterprise. It provides a variety of solutions, such as security and broadband solutions for consumers, and data, unified communications, cloud solutions, and managed services for business and enterprise clients. Under the Windstream Enterprise segment, the company offers a dark fiber network with a nationwide reach of 150,000 miles. Additionally, it provides core transport solutions on a local and long-haul fiber-optic network spanning approximately 125,000 miles.

• Zayo Group, LLC - Zayo Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Zayo Group Holdings, Inc., offers communication infrastructure solutions such as fiber and bandwidth connectivity, colocation, and cloud infrastructure. These services cater to data centers, cloud providers, commercial entities, and media & entertainment centers across more than 400 markets. The company’s fiber solutions are categorized into three types: dark fiber, Private Dedicated Networks (PDN), and mobile infrastructure solutions. These range from metro to long-haul solutions. With its long-haul fiber network, the company connects 13 million fiber miles. Zayo Group, LLC has a broad geographic reach, spanning various countries in North America and Europe.

Value chain-based sizing & forecasting

Supply Side Estimates

• Company revenue estimation via referring to annual reports, investor presentations, and Hoover’s.

• Segment revenue determination via variable analysis and penetration modeling.

• Competitive benchmarking to identify market leaders and their collective revenue shares.

• Forecasting via analyzing commercialization rates, pipelines, market initiatives, distribution networks, etc.

Demand side estimates

• Identifying parent markets and ancillary markets

• Segment penetration analysis to obtain pertinent

• revenue/volume

• Heuristic forecasting with the help of subject matter experts

• Forecasting via variable analysis

Dark Fiber Network Market Report Objectives:

• Understanding market dynamics (in terms of drivers, restraints, & opportunities) in the countries.

• Understanding trends & variables in the individual countries & their impact on growth and using analytical tools to provide high-level insights into the market dynamics and the associated growth pattern.

• Understanding market estimates and forecasts (with the base year as 2022, historic information from 2017 to 2021, and forecast from 2023 to 2030). Regional estimates & forecasts for each category are available and are summed up to form the global market estimates.

Dark Fiber Network Market Report Assumptions:

• The report provides market value for the base year 2022 and a yearly forecast till 2030 in terms of revenue/volume or both. The market for each of the segment outlooks has been provided on region & country basis for the above-mentioned forecast period.

• The key industry dynamics, major technological trends, and application markets are evaluated to understand their impact on the demand for the forecast period. The growth rates were estimated using correlation, regression, and time-series analysis.

• We have used the bottom-up approach for market sizing, analyzing key regional markets, dynamics, & trends for various products and end-users. The total market has been estimated by integrating the country markets.

• All market estimates and forecasts have been validated through primary interviews with the key industry participants.

• Inflation has not been accounted for to estimate and forecast the market.

• Numbers may not add up due to rounding off.

• Europe consists of EU-8, Central & Eastern Europe, along with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

• Asia Pacific includes South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania (Australia & New Zealand).

• Latin America includes Central American countries and the South American continent

• Middle East includes Western Asia (as assigned by the UN Statistics Division) and the African continent.

Primary Research

GVR strives to procure the latest and unique information for reports directly from industry experts, which gives it a competitive edge. Quality is of utmost importance to us, therefore every year we focus on increasing our experts’ panel. Primary interviews are one of the critical steps in identifying recent market trends and scenarios. This process enables us to justify and validate our market estimates and forecasts to our clients. With more than 8,000 reports in our database, we have connected with some key opinion leaders across various domains, including healthcare, technology, consumer goods, and the chemical sector. Our process starts with identifying the right platform for a particular type of report, i.e., emails, LinkedIn, seminars, or telephonic conversation, as every report is unique and requires a differentiated approach.

We send out questionnaires to different experts from various regions/ countries, which is dependent on the following factors:

• Report/Market scope: If the market study is global, we send questionnaires to industry experts across various regions, including North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and MEA.

• Market Penetration: If the market is driven by technological advancements, population density, disease prevalence, or other factors, we identify experts and send out questionnaires based on region or country dominance.

The time to start receiving responses from industry experts varies based on how niche or well-penetrated the market is. Our reports include a detailed chapter on the KoL opinion section, which helps our clients understand the perspective of experts already in the market space.