Prysmian Group says that it has signed a new three-year contract to provide fiber-optic cable to Openreach, BT’s access infrastructure independent subsidiary. The cable provider says it also recently conducted a demonstration of a blown-fiber technology with Openreach.
Openreach appears to be locking down its fiber-optic cabling supply in the midst of a worldwide increase in demand for fiber cable and other technologies driven by government broadband investment programs. Other major operators around the globe have done the same thing (see, for example, "AT&T locks down fiber supply from Corning"). With BT having confirmed that it expects Openreach to reach 25 million UK premises, the networking subsidiary will need a steady supply of infrastructure components.
“Building a new broadband network across the UK is a hugely complex, nationwide engineering project – second only to HS2 in terms of investment. It will help level-up the UK because the impact of Full Fibre broadband stretches from increased economic prosperity and international competitiveness to higher employment and environmental benefits by enabling more home working and fewer commuting trips,” commented Matthew Hemmings, managing director for Fibre and Network Delivery at Openreach. “We place huge importance in our partner network and seek long-term and strategic collaborations. Prysmian is a great example of this, and this sustained partnership means we can benefit from its teams’ skills and innovation to help us build Full Fibre even further.”
“Prysmian has been a partner with Openreach for over 50 years. This latest contract reflects the positive impact our working relationship has had on the UK’s digital networks infrastructure,” comments Marcello Del Brenna, CEO of Prysmian Group UK. “The extension of our working relationship comes at a time where Prysmian is investing in telecommunications innovation to ensure our digital network partners have the cutting-edge solutions. We have also taken great steps forward with our sustainability effort, eliminating paper inclusions from our products and replacing them with digital solutions.”
Meanwhile, the two companies have collaborated on a live trial Prysmian’s Karona double overblow installation technique. The Karona approach enables the installation of high-density fiber-optic cable into sub-ducted routes that already contain legacy cable. The trial, which took place at Stonehaven in Scotland, used Sirocco HD 144-fiber cable with 5.0-mm diameter. The trial saw 600 m of cable overblown in less than 4 hours, thus increasing the capacity of the route to 432 fibers, according to Prysmian. This installation technique was repeated at Bury St Edmunds, where a route of 730 m was overblown in less than 4 hours, the company adds.
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