Sustainable Fibre

The COVID-19 pandemic and the European Union’s “Next Generation EU” economic relief instrument represent a unique opportunity to invest in digitalising Europe’s society and industry while also accelerating the bloc’s transition to a low- carbon economy. The EU already possesses a fibre-optic industry with the expertise and know-how to produce high-quality, sustainable fibre “Made in Europe”. As member states prepare for the post COVID-19 era, quality passive optical networks will be essential to enable their digital transformation. However, while broadband traffic soared as millions of people around the world shifted to remote working, optical fibre connections account for just 26% of total broadband connections on average in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Increasing the share of fibre connections will be crucial to ensuring the EU can benefit from emerging technologies and to delivering information to people and things at optimum speed and low latency. At Prysmian, we believe that very-high-capacity networks have a key role to play in powering a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe. For our part, this means designing fibre solutions that are more energy efficient, using eco-friendly materials, and cutting out unnecessary emissions in the supply chain while still providing our customers with high-quality and reliable fibre infrastructure. This whitepaper outlines in more detail how optical fibre systems can provide the sustainable digital infrastructure that is necessary to underpin the EU’s digital ecosystem. The role of very-high-capacity networks in the economic recovery 4