Welcome to the second episode in our three-part sequence catching up on probably the most attention-grabbing tales in telecom from 2025, and searching ahead to what we anticipate in 2026.
(For those who’re simply becoming a member of, you’ll be able to return and take a look at our first episode on transport community developments.)
At this time’s episode focuses on all issues pricing and enterprise networks. We’re joined by Rob Schult, who leads TeleGeography’s pricing apply, and Brianna Boudreau, who manages our SD-WAN and NaaS analysis.
These specialists sort out questions like:
- Are we actually seeing the rarest phenomenon: telecom pricing stability?
- What function is AI taking part in on this?
- Simply how massive are some spine connections and the way do these costs relate to decrease sized circuits?
- Has SD-WAN turn into the norm within the enterprise networks world?
- Which SD-WAN gamers are left? Is SD-WAN largely about safety now?
Take heed to the complete episode beneath.
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Key Takeaways
International Worth Erosion Has Slowed
Whereas historic traits usually present transport costs dropping between 10% and 20% yearly, world value erosion has slowed, and costs on key routes just like the Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific have stabilized.
This stability on the Trans-Atlantic route is essentially pushed by hyperscalers, who now account for over 80% of allotted bandwidth. As a result of these large firms eat the overwhelming majority of provide and proceed to fill current capability, there’s little incentive for the restricted variety of carriers to decrease costs for the remaining 20% of the market
Geopolitics is Creating Provide Bottlenecks and Worth Hikes
Geopolitical conflicts, particularly within the Purple Sea and Yemen, have prompted vital delays in repairing current cables and deploying new methods like Blue Ramen and SeaMeWe-6.
Consequently, the Europe-to-Asia route is seeing a uncommon occasion the place carriers are rolling over leases at current charges and even opportunistically rising costs. Whereas terrestrial bypass choices exist throughout the Arabian Peninsula, they’re usually cost-prohibitive, typically priced at twice the price of the usual route.
SD-WAN has Reached Saturation and Consolidation
SD-WAN has transitioned from an rising know-how to a typical product in enterprise portfolios, with survey knowledge indicating an adoption charge of roughly 75%.Â
The seller panorama has consolidated considerably. Early gamers like Nokia, Citrix, and Riverbed have sunsetted their merchandise, whereas main acquisitions—resembling HPE shopping for Juniper and Arista shopping for VeloCloud—have reshaped the market. Additional, the main target of SD-WAN has shifted, serving largely as a supply mechanism for safety companies.
“Bandwidth on Demand” Stays a Area of interest Use Case
Regardless of the hype surrounding Community-as-a-Service (NaaS), the particular use case of “bandwidth on demand” (toggling capability up and down) has seen restricted adoption, with fewer than one in 5 enterprises using it.
Most enterprises nonetheless desire sturdy infrastructure, leaving dynamic bandwidth changes for area of interest situations like retail seasonality or occasions. Consequently, NaaS suppliers are prioritizing the enlargement of their automated service footprints over creating granular, every day pricing fashions.
Extra Pricing and Enterprise Intel
AI & Enterprise Networks
How will AI influence enterprise networks?
This yr we tackled this query with knowledge from TeleGeography’s WAN Value Benchmark—a custom-made platform that makes it straightforward to mannequin and monitor your WAN community prices. Dive in:
Enterprise Networks on the Pod
Greg hosted a sequence of discussions in 2025 that coated greatest practices for constructing and sustaining a contemporary, safe enterprise community. And how distributors are evolving their companies.Â
Some highlights:
SD-WAN Vendor Information
This information outlines the evolving vendor panorama to be able to perceive the complete scope of SD-WAN companies provided by distributors, related safety features, and rising partnerships between firms creating these applied sciences.
We’ve extracted vendor profiles from TeleGeography’s Cloud and WAN Analysis Service to ship this data at a look, together with SD-WAN traits. Get the information over right here.
WAN Value Benchmark
This interactive device offers you market costs for WAN companies based mostly in your distinctive community, tailor-made to your particular web site addresses, merchandise, and bandwidths. Obtain pattern knowledge.
Community Pricing Database
This particular pricing suite is a portal to TeleGeography’s community pricing knowledge and evaluation. The total suite consists of distinctive modules that correspond to community pricing knowledge units, all of which can be found for buy as particular person items. Brush up on the accessible datasets.