At the recent TMT World Congress, digital infrastructure leaders and experts gathered to discuss the industry's current state and future direction. The event featured in-depth conversations on various topics, with a particular focus on the challenges and opportunities in the datacentre and fibre sectors. This article provides an overview of some of the key points raised by industry professionals, emphasising the significant issues impacting the datacentre and fibre markets.

Data centres

  1. Unprecedented growth – driven by AI, cloud migration and increased data use generally.
  2. Deep Seek –the  general consensus is that “democratising” AI will further fuel demand as model training will be more accessible and cheaper.
  3. Energy is the no. 1 issue – both supply side (limited availability of renewable energy) as well as grid infrastructure (congestion). Partnerships between utility companies (or other energy generators) and data centre developers are seen as a potential solution. Also, developers are trying to solve problems for local authorities, e.g. by building substations themselves.
  4. Geographical change – key drivers are (i) power availability (in particular cheap renewable energy), (ii) grid infrastructure, (iii) land and (iv) permitting. Customers have stretched their latency requirements to move into remote locations. Data sovereignty is also an important factor (as mentioned below).
  5. Data sovereignty – regional data centres will need to be built to store critical data within a country’s own borders. This will have an impact on the selection of locations for new data centre projects. Additionally, 'data center embassies' could offer a solution for countries to maintain control over their data stored outside their territorial boundaries.
  6. Flexibility is key – customers are looking not more than 3 to 6 months ahead and are not sure who the end user will be (AI or cloud). They are therefore uncertain as to what they need in terms of compute power and configuration. Developers will need to be able to offer scalability, modular design and ramp-up.
  7. Catch-22 – ability to execute is key for customers who will need high visibility on delivery dates but developers do not want to be committed in view of uncertainty around power supply, grid access, zoning and permitting procedures. This causes problems as developers will generally need pre-signed customer contracts to get financing in place  to fund their projects. On the positive side, some jurisdictions are organising themselves better, fast-tracking zoning and permitting procedures and prioritising data centres for grid access.
  8. More mature portfolios – developers are looking for ways to monetise their stabilised assets. The different risk profile should attract a wider pool of investors but there is still a lot of education to be done to increase appetite.
  9. Sustainability – hyperscalers’ intent remains unchanged despite the shifts in the US political landscape.

Fibre

  1. Consolidation – intensive competition and constrained debt and equity markets indicate likely consolidation of the European fibre markets over the next 12 months. New investor focus on profitability to create potential for strategic alignments may foster more M&A in the fibre sector, and vertical integration and independent infrastructure approaches.
  2. Government strategy – there was enthusiasm for governments and telecom regulators to set deadlines for switching off the slower, less cost and energy efficient copper networks, and support of open access models to prevent overbuild and accelerate digital transformation.
  3. Incumbents vs altnets – the dynamics between these two are continuing to evolve in more saturated markets, with larger incumbents acquiring smaller altnets that are struggling with funding expansion, commercial viability, and customer acquisition.
  4. Availability of capital – Strategic partnerships and innovative financing solutions will continue to be critical to sustain growth and expansion of the fibre sector.



Contacts

Joris Ravelli
Joris Ravelli
Partner
Email
joris.ravelli@nortonrosefulbright.com
T: +31 (20) 4629405
Jessica Melville
Jessica Melville
Partner
Email
jessica.melville@nortonrosefulbright.com
T: +44 (20) 74443915
Oliver Stacey
Oliver Stacey
Partner
Email
oliver.stacey@nortonrosefulbright.com
T: +44 (20) 74445038
Daniel Metcalfe
Daniel Metcalfe
Partner
Email
daniel.metcalfe@nortonrosefulbright.com
T: +44 (20) 74442551
Mark Maurice
Mark Maurice
Partner
Email
mark.maurice@nortonrosefulbright.com
T: +44 (20) 74442339

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