Prysmian Cables & Systems hits 100,000 km OPGW milestone in Mexico

Prysmian Telecom Cables & Systems will shortly supply to Mexico an Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) cable system which will take its total worldwide OPGW installed volume past the 100.000 km mark - enough cable to go more than twice around the world.

OPGW cable forms an integral part of an overhead electricity network, performing both the primary function of a conventional earth conductor together with the provision of a state-of-the-art communications link thanks to the optical fibres contained within.

The Mexican contract will form part of the nation-wide optical network of Comisiòn Federal de Electricidad, the national Mexican power utility, to whom Prysmian has supplied more than 9,000 cable kilometres over the past 12 years. The cable will be produced at Prysmian's new facility at Vilanova, near Barcelona in Spain and will contain 36 Magnilight (low water peak) optical fibres produced also by Prysmian at the company's facility in Battipaglia, Italy.

Since supply of OPGW began in 1984, Prysmian's aluminium tube technology, has continued to demonstrate its superior performance and long term reliability in a wide range of environments in all five continents around the world and with additional OPGW production facilities in Sorocaba, Brazil and Wuxi, China, Prysmian has maintained its position as world leader in the OPGW market.

"OPGW remains a key part of the Prysmian product portfolio" said Mr Giovanni B. Scotti, director of Prysmian's global Telecom Cables and Optical Fibres business. "We are delighted to reach this important point in the product's history. We have now installed OPGW in more than 60 countries around the world and are especially pleased that this particular project has occurred in a country where we have such a long tradition of supply".