Blog
|June 24, 2025
The Zayo Bandwidth Report Unveils Key Trends Driving the Bandwidth Boom
The Demand For Bandwidth is Greater Than Ever Before
Over the past four years, an interesting shift in bandwidth demand has taken shape. As we finally adjusted to a post-pandemic “new normal” of distributed but highly connected work, we entered a new technological era marked by the rise of AI – what we call “the Intelligence Era.” This drastic shift transforms how we work and build our networks to support this work.
A clear trend has emerged: enterprises and digital infrastructure providers alike are investing in greater network capacity and higher fiber counts to keep up with escalating demands. The Zayo Bandwidth Report explores these trends, breaking down the key insights and drivers behind the exponential growth in demand for network bandwidth.
Big Bandwidth is Reaching New Heights
The concept of “big bandwidth” has evolved dramatically in recent years. From 2020 to 2024, wavelength deals exceeding 1 Tb more than doubled, as customers increasingly purchase larger capacities at once to meet the demands of cloud-based solutions, AI, and other emerging technologies.
Another key shift in big bandwidth purchases has been the adoption of 400G Wavelength capacity, introduced by Zayo in 2021. Offering four times the capacity of its predecessor, 400G provides cost-efficiency, space and power savings, and simplified networks, making it the most popular option for high-capacity needs today. In 2024, over half of the total wavelength capacity purchased by Zayo customers was 400G Waves.
At the same time, demand for unlit capacity is reaching all-time highs, with metro dark fiber purchases growing over 600% in the same four-year period. These trends highlight a clear move toward scalable, future-proof solutions.
AI is Driving Bandwidth Needs to New Levels
Hyperscalers are transforming infrastructure, dominating bandwidth-related purchases, and shaping how we invest in our network.
From 2020 to 2024, they accounted for 41.2% of Wavelength deals exceeding 1 Tb and 52.2% of Zayo’s metro dark fiber purchases. In 2024, the largest long-haul dark fiber deal – an 864 fiber-count purchase – came from a hyperscaler. This record fiber-count order is likely a symbol of what’s to come with fiber demand.
With over $1 billion in AI-related deals in 2024 alone, we’re fortifying our network with enough capacity to meet the demands of these industry leaders driving the AI and cloud revolution.
Hyperscalers are Turning Their Sights on New Frontiers
In a hunt for enough space and power to fuel demanding data centers, hyperscalers are turning to non-traditional locations to set up shop. New AI data center locations are cropping up in places like Pendleton, Oregon, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Memphis, Tennessee – places where space and power are plentiful and affordable – as a result.
And these hyperscalers need big network pipes to get to these remote locations – something Zayo’s uniquely positioned to provide. According to Zayo’s data, several emerging markets have become top destinations for our long-haul routes. For example, wavelength purchases on routes in and to Memphis increased by 4300% between 2023 and 2024 alone.
Enterprises Are Navigating a Complex Digital Future
To uncover the “why” behind rising bandwidth demand, we spoke with IT leaders at large enterprises across industries. Our interviewees pointed to several factors contributing to heightened bandwidth usage: large media file sharing, video conferencing, security applications, and personal applications being accessed from work.
AI was, of course, another hot-button topic. While AI adoption rates varied across the board – with some in early stages of building their own in-house LLMs and others easing a hesitant and change-resistant workforce into AI adoption with tools like Copilot – IT leaders across industries are rethinking their infrastructure in preparation for its impact. They are exploring concepts like network-as-a-service (NaaS), expert network management, and resilient networks designed to ensure uptime, agility, and readiness for the Intelligence Era. In addition, IT leaders are leaning into hybrid, multi-cloud models to tap into the agility and scalability of the Cloud for non-sensitive use cases and workloads.
Telecom Trends are Revolutionizing Bandwidth Needs
Some of Zayo’s largest customers are other telecommunications carriers. In fact, this group of customers is our second-biggest bandwidth buyers after hyperscalers. Similar to hyperscalers, carriers need massive bandwidth to accommodate businesses and individuals with services like high-speed Internet, voice, and mobile.
Recent terrestrial and satellite alliances and preparations for 6G networks are drumming up even greater network bandwidth demand. In response to these current and emerging trends, carriers purchased 34% of all metro dark fiber by fiber count and over a quarter of all Wavelength deals over 1 Tb of capacity between 2020 and 2024.
Bandwidth is the New Oil
While we can’t say where network bandwidth demand is going, demand from AI, hyperscalers, and tech points to a continued upward trend. In the Intelligence Era, strategic organizations will treat their networks as a competitive edge, enabling innovation and keeping them ahead of the curve. The first step to achieving this is understanding the network requirements of the Intelligence Era, which you can explore further in the report.