16
STAGING THE FUTURE
No end in sight for
optical cable growth
Production is running high in all markets but future investments
to boost capacity are likely to be aimed at high-growth countries.
Global demand for optical cable has
grown sharply in recent years and industry
watchers and operators are wondering
whether the trend is sustainable in terms
both of production capacity and new
orders. Installation of optical cable in
communication networks is running at an
annual 300 million fbre-km. In 2006 it was
just 95 million.
From 2006 to 2014, the compound annual
growth was 15.2% despite the great
recession
: it increased 24% From 2008 to
2009, when almost every other industry
su±ered a sharp downturn. But growth
varies signifcantly among countries and
regions and within each country. The world
has more than 3,000 potential customers
for single-mode optical cable, and several
hundred
have
network
construction
projects underway.
Developing
economies
started
using
fbre more recently and operators are
still building inter-city backbones and
metropolitan
networks,
while
FTTx
installations are limited. Over the next fve
years, a major contribution is expected to
come from India and South-East Asia, while
other high-growth markets will include
Mexico, Central, and South America, Africa
and the Middle East. With more than
200 telecom cable markets worldwide
and only 55 countries with optical
cable producers, most rely on imports.
A relatively small handful of big clients
can have a strong e±ect on the growth in
demand. In 2014, Spain’s demand nearly
doubled as one big carrier, Telefonica,
accounted for most of it. Top customers
include AT&T, India’s BSNL and Reliance
Jio Infocomm, China Mobile, Orange,
Telefonica, and Telmex, which accounted
for more than 16 million km of installed
cable in 2014.
Some of the most advanced markets,
such as Japan, the US, and major Western
European countries, began installing
optical cable more than 30 years ago, and
most oF it is still operating quite well. In
recent years, these markets have been
adding fbre to their access network – in
FTTx projects, but this trend is also losing
steam, as already occurred in Japan,
Singapore, and other countries.
Growing weight
of the emerging markets
Big operators make the market
200
telecom cable
markets worldwide
