Let me be a nay sayer about global recession. In fact, if it happens at all, I’m betting recession will be a blessing in disguise for service providers worldwide.

Recently, the fat cats kibitzing over their fondues at the Davos World Economic Forum were eager to predict doom. They point to the turgid U.S. economy for evidence, and expect a global domino effect.

But I question how far this ill wind will blow.

The resurgence of the fiber optic cable market is a case in point. With few exceptions, the routing of new cables coming into service over the next few years illustrates the uncoupling of the U.S. economy from its central role. Instead, forthcoming cables such as Reliance Flag’s NGN system, IMEWE, TGN Eurasia, SEACOM and others are putting emerging economies on a redefined global map where interaction with Europe - and each other - figures large.

And let’s not forget the recently upgraded and expanded routes of Russia’s Transtelecom and Rostelecom which streamline trans-continental connectivity between Europe and Asia.

What we’re witnessing is the growth of new trade axes redefining traffic streams and demand.

Yankee Group’s conservative estimates - subsequent to recent field research among leading global service providers - indicate that wholesale telecom traffic alone between all Europe to Asia routes will generate a 45% CAGR until 2012. And sub-routes to the Middle East and India will greatly exceed that in our view.

Just talk to Gareth Williams at Interoute who’s seen Middle East business more than double in 18 months, or Vinod Kumar at Tata Communications who talks about the new global BPO highways linking the fast-growing economies of India, the Philippines and Vietnam to Europe.

Costs of serving growing trade routes are also dropping. I recently also spoke to Ian Douglas, CEO of upstart Huawei Submarine Networks who aims to disrupt current submarine economics by building thinner intra-region and bi-lateral cables, challenging the quasi-duopoly of Alcatel-Lucent and Tyco Telecommunications.

But new cable routes are only facilitators of trade, where the real profits lie on how such infrastructure is exploited. In tight economic climates - due either to recession or immature socio-economic development - what’s needed are communications services that deliver demonstrable productivity benefits at keen prices.

Consequently, my take is that the rationale for managed services only becomes stronger in challenging economic conditions. Why? Because abundant proof from sources such as Yankee Group’s global Anywhere Enterprise and Consumer surveys shows that many such services can reduce capex and opex pressures and boost productivity.

So, repeat after me fortissimo: Recession, bring it on!