HFCL Limited (HFCL) has launched its Intermittently Bonded Ribbon (IBR) Cables in the UK market, a move that furthers its global expansion plans and aims to further tap into the UK’s urban and rural markets, accelerate 5G and FTTP adoption and meet the country’s growing bandwidth demands.
The basis of the new cables is individual Intermittently Bonded Ribbons; each made up of 12 optical fibers, which are bonded at specific intervals along their lengths. Unlike traditional flat ribbons, flexible IBRs can bend and conform to the space available inside a cable.
“HFCL aims to play a crucial role in deploying high-speed internet connectivity to speed up fiberization across the UK with the launch of its IBR Cables,” said Mahendra Nahata, managing director of HFCL. “Our IBR cables are suitable to meet the goals of the UK Government to put all households in reach of fiber to the premises (FTTP) by 2033 and accelerate 5G expansion.”
Focus on density
Groups of IBRs can be bundled into cables that provide twice the fiber packing density of traditional cables in the same volume.
IBR cables enable the installation of higher fiber counts in small-diameter ducts, which is especially useful in congested areas with minimal space. A vital feature of the new cable family is the high productivity mass fusion splicing that enables both faster installation and quick restoration in case of an accidental outage.
Compared to improvements in previous optical fiber cables, IBR Cables combines small diameters with the high fiber packing densities and supports mass fusion splicing. HFCL’s IBR Cables are currently available with up to 864 fibers, incorporating HFCL’s ITU-T compliant G.657A2/CW 1505 Cat 3 single-mode fiber.
The cable’s proprietary low friction jacket enables enhanced jetting performance in 25/20 mini ducts that are common in cramped urban environments. These IBR Cables are also compliant to various global cable performance standards, including the IEC 60794 series and Telcordia GR-20.
Eliminating broadband gaps
Urban and rural communities in the UK still face inadequate broadband access despite rapid expansion over the last few years. While some fiber networks have been installed in most cities, most urban households have no access to high-speed broadband, and access to infrastructure is the primary barrier to achieving broadband connectivity in rural markets.
Most UK households can order service offering speeds greater than 30 Mbps. However, there remains a substantial gap of 7 million households with no broadband or mobile internet access, according to a report published by the Communications and Digital Committee of the UK.
Similarly, in its Spring 2023 update, Ofcom reported that approximately 68,000 UK premises don’t have decent broadband service (with speeds below 10Mbps) and almost 435,000 properties can't access decent broadband through a fixed-line service. The UK Government is actively engaged with private players and the digital services ecosystem. It has recently launched a $49.3 million fund to accelerate 5G innovation and to put all UK households in reach of fiber to the premises (FTTP) by 2033 as part of its Project Gigabit.
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