Prysmian supports ultra-broadband development in Italy
Partnership renewed with Telecom Italia for the supply of optical cables and accessories
Fibre for next-generation networks will be manufactured in Battipaglia
Milan, 05 September 2017 – Prysmian Group, world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, has renewed its partnership with Telecom Italia through three different one-year contracts for the supply of fibre optic cables and connectivity solutions. The products supplied will be used to implement the telephone operator’s network and its projects relating to the Ultra-Broadband Digital Plan. The overall contract is worth a total of over €33 million, of which €28.5 million regarding the supply of cables, and the remainder relating to the sale of joint boxes for optical cables and mini cables and modular optical distribution frames, belonging to the innovative ODF Flex systems range.
The next-generation fibre-optic network is one of Telecom Italia’s greatest strengths: its development represents a strategic choice for the operator, which as a result has taken a position of increasing leadership in the process of spreading connected digital homes and businesses. Prysmian Group provides Telecom Italia with the best and most innovative technical solutions, with a view to ensuring a faster and more reliable connection.
The traditional multi loose tube and mini loose tube optical cables will be produced at the Prysmian plants in Romania and Spain, whereas the optical fibres used within them will be manufactured in the centre of excellence at Battipaglia (Salerno), the plant which employs about 300 highly specialised staff and produces 9 million km of optical fibres a year. Prysmian is the only optical fibre producer in Italy, thus placing Italy in a leading position within a strategic high-tech sector.
The accessories — joint boxes and modular optical distribution frames, the latter of which are necessary to connect Telecom Italia’s access network to the transmission infrastructure — will be produced at the English plant in Bishopstoke, Europe’s foremost centre for the development of optical connectivity intended for the implementation of ultra-broadband networks. The ODF Flex range’s modular optical distribution frames feature a high level of flexibility during the phase when signals are transferred from one optical cable to another within the distribution network.
Prysmian Group continues to stand out as a partner of excellence for broadband development in Italy, a project promoted by the Italian government that involves the public and private sectors and aims at filling gaps in infrastructure and services by 2025. In this way, Italy will be able to achieve the objectives set in the Digital Agenda for Europe and create the conditions most favourable to integrated development of fixed and mobile telecommunications infrastructure.
“Technology, innovation and a deep understanding of the local situation, combined with the international experience garnered in over 140 years of history, allow our Group to create the only optical fibre produced in Italy,” pointed out Carlo Scarlata, Chief Commercial Officer at Prysmian Cavi e Sistemi Italia. ”Nine million kilometres of Prysmian fibre a year are produced in Battipaglia, in the heart of Italy, to link Italian and international communities, ensuring the quality needed to develop the telecommunications networks of the future. Economic growth and consumer demand depend largely on always-on broadband connectivity, which is now capable of gigabit speeds. Prysmian Group aims to provide this service through a high-performance fixed fibre-optic network capable of satisfying users’ constant — and constantly increasing — needs.”
Prysmian Group
Prysmian Group is world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry. With almost 140 years of experience, sales exceeding €7.5 billion in 2016, 21,000 employees across 50 countries and 82 plants, the Group is strongly positioned in high-tech markets and offers the widest possible range of products, services, technologies and know-how. It operates in the businesses of underground and submarine cables and systems for power transmission and distribution, of special cables for applications in many different industries and of medium and low voltage cables for the construction and infrastructure sectors. For the telecommunications industry, the Group manufactures cables and accessories for voice, video and data transmission, offering a comprehensive range of optical fibres, optical and copper cables and connectivity systems. Prysmian is a public company, listed on the Italian Stock Exchange in the FTSE MIB index.
