Cable capacity meaning

Cable capacity describes, in telecommunications legal practice, how much voice and data traffic an international submarine (or other communications) cable can carry, and how much of that bandwidth is allocated to particular parties. It is a descriptive industry term used in contracts and regulatory filings rather than a concept defined in legislation or case law; usage is broadly consistent across England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland. Key measures include: - Design capacity: the maximum throughput the system is engineered to support (including upgrade potential). - Notional capacity: the capacity subscribed or allocated to consortium members under the construction and maintenance agreement or similar arrangements. - Lit or activated capacity: the portion equipped with terminal equipment and currently in service. Cable capacity is legally significant for drafting and interpreting IRUs, capacity leases and wavelength/spectrum agreements; allocating maintenance and upgrade costs; service level and restoration commitments; security and resilience disclosures; and competition and regulatory assessments (for example before Ofcom in the UK and ComReg in Ireland). It is typically expressed in Gbps/Tbps, by fibre pair, wavelength or spectrum slot. Distinguish physical/design capacity from contracted or activated capacity when apportioning rights, pricing and reporting.