Sterlite to supply India's highest-density fibre optic cables to BSNL

01 October 2008

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited is sourcing India's highest-density fibre optic cables ever deployed in the country from the London-listed Vedanta group flagship in India, Sterlite Technologies.

The public sector telco plans to install these ribbon fibre optic cables, the Ribbon-Lite 288F, in about 100 city sites across the country in the rapidly growing FTTx (fibre-to-the-''x'') applications sector - making it the first time that fibre optic cables higher than 144F are being deployed in the country.

Ribbon fibre optic cables provide an efficient means to achieve high fibre density, as well as reduce the time per fibre required for installation, thus facilitating quick roll-out of the network.

Sterlite is widely regarded as the pioneer of ribbon fibre optic cables in India, having supplied over 60 per cent of the country's requirements since 2003.

''Higher computer penetration, greater usage of the internet, coupled with emergence of content rich business applications have resulted in an exponential increase in demand for bandwidth," said Sterlite's K S Rao, COO (telecom business).

In FY08, the number of broadband subscribers in India grew by nearly 65 per cent over that in FY07 and India is currently positioned as the fourth largest consumer of optical fibre in the world.