The shortage of optical fiber cables has led to an increase in the price of this equipment and seems to be a major obstacle to the development of the global Internet infrastructure.

The price of optical fiber has increased by more than 70% since March 2021, and its shortage has delayed the completion of projects and worried companies and forward-thinking countries. In the meantime, European countries, India and China have suffered more from this issue.

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Fiber optic cable shortage crisis

After the spread of Covid-19 in the world, the need for internet services and access to network equipment became more important, and now the world is facing the problem of optical fiber shortage.

In recent years, governments have been working to launch and provide ultra-fast 5G internet, and this project requires a large amount of fiber optic cable underground. On the other hand, large companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta are developing their data centers with methods such as placing global fiber networks under the oceans so that they can meet the growing needs of users.

Now it seems that the production of these fibers will decrease due to the high cost of the basic parts used in optical fiber technologies. Currently, the lack of helium due to the closure of the relevant factories in the United States and Russia has caused this material, which is one of the important components in the production of optical fiber glass, to become very expensive and rare, and has experienced a 135% price growth in the last two years.

In addition to helium, the price of silicon tetrachloride, which is the next key component in fiber production, has increased by about 50%.

According to Cu company, considering the price of this cable in the last 3 years, the price of optical fiber cable has reached its peak, and this has caused the time to complete projects that require optical fiber to increase from 20 weeks to about a year. Of course, this is not the whole story, because despite this price growth, the doubt has arisen whether countries have the ability to upgrade their infrastructure or whether these programs are going to be suspended for the time being.

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