Prysmian leads the way with FTTH in Germany

Prysmian Cables & Systems has secured a new contract to supply the first phase of a Fibre to the Home (FTTH) network in the South Western German town of Schwerte (Westhofen). The project will be based on Prysmian's innovative Sirocco blown fibre technology whereby optical fibres are blown into pre-installed tubes to create the fibre network. It will initially link around 1800 households with the overall project due to continue through to 2012 by which time the entire town of 50,000 inhabitants will have ultra high speed broadband via optical fibre. The cable system is to be installed by local contractor Volker Schulte Elektrotechnik GmbH with the end customer being utility company Stadtwerke Schwerte GmbH.

The project is typical of many such FTTH schemes in Western Europe where currently the majority of activity is being undertaken by utility companies, local authorities and independent operators ahead of the major incumbent telecom providers. Project manager for Volker Schulte Elektrotechnik GmbH, Mr Jürgen Schäfer commented, "The Prysmian Sirocco system is ideal for this type of project, allowing fast initial installation together with the ability to grow the network over time on a highly cost effective basis. There is a very high fibre density in these last mile connections and the Sirocco system is able to both manage this and provide the necessary flexibility for future updates"

The initial phase of the project is due to start before the end of January with the next phase scheduled for July 2008.


Prysmian
A leading player in the industry of high-technology cables and systems for energy and telecommunication, the Prysmian Group is a truly global company with sales exceeding 5 billion euro in 2006 and a strong position in higher-added value market segments. With its two businesses, Energy Cables & Systems (submarine and underground cables for power transmission and distribution, for industrial applications and for the distribution of electricity to residential and commercial buildings) and Telecom Cables & Systems (optical cables and fibres and copper cables for video, data and voice transmission), Prysmian boasts a global presence with subsidiaries in 35 countries, 54 plants in 21 countries, 7 Research & Development Centres in Europe, USA and South America, and over 12,000 employees. Specialising in the development of products and systems designed to meet clients' specific requirements, Prysmian's key strengths include: a focus on Research & Development, the capacity to innovative on products and production processes, and the use of advanced proprietary technologies. Prysmian is listed on the Milan Stock Exchange Blue Chip index.