Fibre is getting more expensive: what does it mean for your office?

An organisation signs a lease for a new office. The brochure mentioned fibre, so nobody worried about it. Only during the fit-out does it become clear that the fibre reaches the basement, not the floor. A new connection is needed, with risers and cabling on top. The quote comes in higher than expected. So does the lead time.

That scenario was always unpleasant. Right now it is also expensive. Fibre and the work around it have become considerably more expensive over the past eighteen months, and no quick improvement is in sight. In this article we explain why, what it means for tenants and landlords, and how you can avoid surprises.

Why fibre is so expensive right now

Several developments are happening at the same time. Together they make fibre not only more expensive, but also harder to get on time.

AI data centres are absorbing the fibre

The biggest cause lies far outside the property world. Technology companies are building data centres for artificial intelligence at a rapid pace worldwide. Such a data centre connects thousands of computing chips, and that takes a great deal of fibre. According to Tom's Hardware, it can be up to 36 times more fibre than in a data centre with standard servers. Other industry sources mention 10 to 30 times more.

The factories that make fibre cannot keep up with that demand. Building a new production line takes years. Producers give priority to large, profitable data centre orders. Less is left for ordinary fibre cable, the cable that runs through streets and buildings.

The price of the fibre itself has risen sharply

This shows in the prices. Much of the world's fibre comes from China. There, according to market analyst CRU, the price of the most widely used fibre in spring 2026 was a multiple of what it was a year earlier. The exact figures differ by source, but the direction is clear. Prices for finished cable and the maximum prices in telecom operators' tenders have also gone up substantially.

Lead times of almost a year

Where cable used to be delivered within 8 to 12 weeks, lead times of up to almost a year are now being reported. The industry expects the shortage to last well into 2027. Anyone fitting out an office in that period needs to take this into account.

Work in the ground is the largest cost item

The cable itself is only part of the bill. The largest share goes to labour: digging, drilling, laying ducts and connecting. In American research by Cartesian and the Fiber Broadband Association, labour accounts for almost three quarters of the cost of underground deployment. And labour is exactly what is scarce.

In the Netherlands, construction labour costs rose by almost 9 percent year on year according to Eurostat (June 2025). Technicians and groundworkers are also needed for the energy transition, housing construction and reinforcing the power grid. In addition, every municipality has its own rules, fees and conditions for excavation work. That costs time and money.

Fibre has not only become more expensive. Above all, it has become less predictable.

What this means for the tenant

A tenant fitting out an office often pays for a large part of the digital fit-out. That falls under the initial investment, the Capex. For fibre, it usually involves three items:

• The connection to the building. If there is no fibre to the building yet, digging is required. Providers mention amounts from a few hundred euros to tens of thousands of euros, depending on the distance and the situation in the street.
• The route through the building. From the basement or meter cupboard to the floor, risers and a clear route are needed. If these are missing, it becomes a construction project.
• The cabling in the leased space. Network cables to the workstations, the patch cabinet and the wifi points. Here too, every metre of cable and every hour of the technician counts.

All of these items have become more expensive. More importantly, they are harder to budget in advance. A quote is sometimes valid only briefly, because suppliers cannot guarantee their own purchase prices. And a lead time of months can mean that an office is ready, but does not yet have a proper connection.

Our advice to tenants: find this out before you sign. Do not just ask whether there is fibre, but how far it reaches, which providers are available and what the route to your floor looks like. Include the digital fit-out in the negotiation. If you only find out during the fit-out, you have no negotiating room left.

What this means for the landlord

For landlords, this development works both ways.

A building where fibre already runs into the leased space, with good risers and room for multiple providers, becomes more valuable. The tenant needs to invest less and can start sooner. That is a real argument in leasing, especially now that costs and lead times are so uncertain for the tenant.

A building without that foundation becomes harder to let. Tenants will ask more questions. They will expect the landlord to contribute to the fit-out, or they will choose another building. Vacancy and higher fit-out contributions ultimately cost the landlord more than the investment itself.

A landlord who invests now must take the higher prices and long lead times into account. That is exactly why it pays to plan early, for example during a renovation or when a floor becomes vacant. Waiting until a new tenant comes knocking is too late.

The role of the IT-Label

The problem in the example at the start is not only the price of fibre. The problem is that nobody knew in advance what was really in place. "Fibre available" in a brochure says nothing about the route to the floor, the number of providers or the condition of the cabling.

The IT-Label makes that visible. A Certified Partner assesses the building on connectivity, infrastructure and cabling, and translates that into a delivery level from PREMIUM to SHELL. This way a tenant knows before signing what is in place and what still needs to be invested. More on the technology can be found in our knowledge base article on fibre in buildings.

For the landlord, the label works as evidence. A building with a high delivery level shows in black and white that the tenant need not expect costly surprises. In a market where fibre is expensive and slow, that is a clear advantage.

Want to know quickly where a building stands? The IT-Label pre-inspection gives an indication of the digital delivery level within a few days, from € 750 excl. VAT per location.

Three questions to ask now

• How far does the fibre reach? To the street, to the basement or into the leased space?
• How does the connection reach the floor? Are there risers with spare capacity, and is there a technical room?
• Who pays for what? Agree which part of the digital fit-out lies with the landlord and which with the tenant.

Fibre will not become cheaper any time soon. But if you know the digital condition of a building in advance, you can prevent the fit-out from becoming more expensive and finishing later than planned.

Sources: Tom's Hardware, CRU (via market analyses by fibre suppliers), M2 Optics, Light Reading and Cartesian, Fiber Broadband Association, Eurostat (via Trading Economics), ACM, Gemeentelijk Platform Kabels & Leidingen.