Prysmian expands optical fiber plant in Brazil

Fiber and cable provider Prysmian Group says it has begun operations in a newly expanded optical fiber production facility in Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil. The expansion is part of a five-year, €100 million plan that runs through 2016 aimed at boosting the company's market share and production capacity for fiber-optic network products.

The recent expansion is the first of a two-part effort to upgrade the Sorocaba plant. The expansion increased production capacity to meet local needs, which Prysmian says current sits at 4.5 million km of fiber preforms per year. The second phase, now underway, will upgrade manufacturing processes to enable production of more advanced fiber for South American requirements, as well as position the facility for additional capacity upgrades as they become necessary.

Local FTTx requirements appear to be a signficant driver for the expansion. "The quality of the passive elements of an optical infrastructure is absolutely key to guarantee the sustainability of the telecom service and also to optimize the total cost of ownership of the network," said Philippe Vanhille, executive vice president, telecom at Prysmian Group. "The closer the fiber gets to the premises, the more passive components quality becomes critical to avoid service disruptions and high cost of ownership. We consistently keep on investing in optical innovation, in order to permanently improve the performance of our products and processes. Our mission is to provide the market with the best solutions, creating concrete value for our customers, both in Brazil and globally."

The Sorocaba facility is one of five Prysmian "excellence centers." The others are located in the U.S., France (Douvrin), Italy (Battipaglia), and the Netherlands (Eindhoven).

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