29 April 1999: According to a recent report, optical fibre cables have not been able to gain a foothold in the Indian telecom cable market, despite many advantages over jelly filled cables.
Optical …
29 April 1999: According to a recent report, optical fibre cables have not been able to gain a foothold in the Indian telecom cable market, despite many advantages over jelly filled cables. Optical fibre cables have higher carrying capacity and bandwidth, and are more suited for transmission of voice, video and graphics, and cable television and information technology applications. Established telecom majors like Finolex Cables, Sterlite industries and RPG Telecom plan to set up optical fibre capacities, the report said. But companies like Birla Ericcson – that have relied solely on optical fibre cables – are in real difficulty, as the demand has not grown. It is expected that, in the long term, only the major telecom players will survive when demand finally picks up. The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) of the Indian government has decided to increase its offtake of optical fibre cables, and is projected to purchase space of up to 70,000 fibre kilometres in 1999. Offtake of optical fibre cables by Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL) and some private sector basic telecom services projects may improve the prospects of the industry, according to the report.