New research by TeleGeography shows that even more is to come, with nearly 50 new cloud regions planned. Azure, Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Oracle are the drivers of market growth.
Asia has the most in-service cloud zones, logging over 230, said the company.
Principal analyst Patrick Christian said: “Regions were accelerating pre-pandemic with 28 new regions in 2019, but numbers unsurprisingly cooled off when restrictions were enforced. We’re now seeing expansion pick up again in above-average numbers.”
Christian added: “We expect that this momentum will continue.”
Asia is poised to keep its record for the foreseeable future, said TeleGeography. Alibaba recently launched new regions in South Korea and Thailand, in addition to the Philippines at the end of 2021. Further, Microsoft Azure just launched its fifth region in China.
TeleGeography has used its research to update its cloud infrastructure map, which also covers pricing trends for cloud and WAN services.
While its role in the WAN is diminishing, MPLS remains a critical component of many enterprise networks, and prices for the service continue to decline, said TeleGeography.
Carriers reported service availability in 5,244 cities in 2021, but prices varied greatly. Overall, MPLS prices remain highest in developing or remote markets, such as Johannesburg, Mumbai and São Paulo, where international layer-1 connectivity is most expensive and fewer service providers have PoPs.
“Orienting networks toward greater cloud utilization generally requires additional bandwidth at each site,” said Christian.
“Markets that are major connectivity hubs – and where international capacity is cheap, such as London, New York and Hong Kong – are the least expensive option for businesses needing bandwidth. The competition we see among carriers reflects the fact that those offering any international service tend to have PoPs in these cities.”
