Submarine Telecoms Forum

History

Submarine Telecoms Forum was established in February 2001 with an expressed mission of creating an international forum for the expression of ideas and opinions pertaining to the submarine telecom industry.

As a former employee of British Telecom and Cable & Wireless, Submarine Telecoms Forum co-founder, Wayne Nielsen, had been involved in the international submarine telecoms industry since 1985. He established WFN Strategies in 2001 and was assisting system developers and integrators, installers, etc.

Submarine Telecoms Forum co-founder, Ted Breeze, had been active in the submarine Telecom industry since 1987 and was responsible for the corporate marketing presence for British Telecom Marine and Cable & Wireless Marine before establishing his consultancy, BJ Marketing Communications, in 1996.

In previous lives, both Nielsen and Breeze were the originating publishers of BT Marine’s 1991 onwards publication, Soundings. In 1998, they published SAIC’s magazine, Real Time, the industry's first electronic magazine with a mailing list was some 2500 submarine telecom contacts worldwide, plus linked via the web to countless others.

In 2001, the submarine telecom industry represented more than a $5B per annum in sales and yet no magazine existed which properly serviced its many issues. Under the banner of WFN Strategies, Nielsen and Breeze established the first industry-wide electronic and freely available magazine, Submarine Telecoms Forum, which was funded solely through advertising revenues.

The first issue of Submarine Telecoms Forum magazine was published in October 2001. In 2008, an industry RSS feed was added to the website.

In 2004 and 2005 Submarine Telecoms Forum produced a submarine cable map for purchase. In 2008 an updated submarine cable map, which is funded through sponsorships, was forwarded freely to 3000 international industry contacts.

Since 2004, Submarine Telecoms Forum has produced an industry calendar which is funded through monthly sponsorships and forwarded freely to 3000 international industry contacts. In May 2008, Submarine Telecoms Forum was selected by the submarine telecommunications industry association, SubOptic, to act as Media Partner in support of its upcoming conference in Yokohama in 2010.

In 2013, Submarine Telecoms Forum again acted as Media Partner in support of the SubOptic 2013 conference in Paris, France. In addition, Submarine Telecoms Forum reported live from the conference through a series of blogs and videos.

Circulation

Submarine Telecoms Forum is free to its 60,000+ readers representing 115 countries. Submarine Telecoms Forum magazine averages 60,000 downloads per issue. The Submarine Cable Almanac averages 250,000 hits per issue.

Notable Contributors

Since 2001, SubTel Forum has published the insights of a variety of business, project and engineering authors from a number of international companies, governmental organizations and academia. Notable contributors include:

• Stewart Ash

• Greg Berlocher

• John Hibbard

• John Horne

• Stephen Nielsen

• Sherry Sontag

• Kevin G. Summers

Issue Themes

Submarine Telecoms Forum utilizes the following themes throughout its publishing year:

• January: Global Outlook

• March: Finance & Legal

• May: Subsea Capacity

• July: Regional Systems

• September: Offshore Energy

• November: System Upgrades

Editorial Policy

Submarine Telecoms Forum magazine subscribes to the editorial guidelines set by the American Society of Magazine Editors. Among the principles set out by the society is the commitment to keep the editorial content of a magazine independent from advertising. Submarine Telecoms Forum magazine tenaciously holds to the belief that its first commitment is to the reader. It makes every effort to have a relationship of trust with its reader, and that can only be safeguarded by clear policies that separate the influence of advertising dollars from the editorial content of our magazine. For this reason, the editor has final say over the editorial content of the magazine. Editors are committed to finding the best and most compelling stories that will interest its readers and upholds the mission of the magazine; overtly “sales” articles will not be tolerated. Submarine Telecoms Forum seeks innovative essays, features, news, reviews, and other material that explores the many facets of subsea telecommunications. When an author submits material for publication, this means:

1. The author(s) assures the material is original, his/her own work and is not under any legal restriction for publication online (e.g., previous copyright ownership).

2. The author allows Submarine Telecoms Forum to edit the work for clarity, presentation, including making appropriate hypermedia links within the work.

3. The author gives Submarine Telecoms Forum permission to publish the work and make it accessible in the Magazine’s archives indefinitely after publication.

Products

SubTel Forum accomplishes a number of complementary services and products for the industry, including:

• Submarine Telecoms Forum Magazine – A free, bimonthly digital trade journal focused on the submarine cable industry.

• Submarine Telecoms Industry Report – A digital document featuring in-depth analysis and speculation on the submarine cable industry.

• Submarine Cable Almanac – A digital document that features each major international system on its own page, along with a system map, landing points, system capacity, length, RFS year and other valuable data.

• Submarine Cable Map – Submarine Cables of The World is an annual poster that reflects known and planned international submarine cable systems at the time of printing.

• Submarine Telecoms Industry Calendar – An annual printed calendar that features the leaders of the international submarine industry.