[CasearianDaoist]

Yes, but it is so cheap. Just getting the fiber is worth it - just sitting on the fiber for a few years would be worth it. They must not be able to strip off the debt.

[jas3]

Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. It depends what other fiber is worth.

The fiber requires servicing, and a substantial capital outlay.

Moreover, fiber isn't quite a finite resource like three gallons of gas. New technologies allow old fiber to carry ever more traffic at higher bitrates and at different frequencies and over longer distances. Merely by installing new equipment every few hundred miles old fiber gets a new lease on life.

How many years would you guess until the glut of fiber capacity is no more?

Remember that when in US history railroads and canals were overbuilt, many of them ended up being worth zero.

Think what Cogent bought PSINet's US network assets for out of bankruptcy! A mere $10 million. PSINet spent at least $250 million building out this network.