It took 15 years, from 2000 to 2015, to fill up all the overbuilt fiber and data center capacity from the dot-com era.

The dot-com crash was largely a telecom crash, where companies like Global Crossing overbuilt fiber capacity based on the expectation that internet traffic would continue doubling every quarter, as reported by the US Commerce Department in 1996.

During the dot-com boom, fiber optic lines were laid but never powered on, a phenomenon referred to as "dark fiber."