WCA May 2010

news

FTTH take up gathers pace

The majority of subscribers (77 per cent) are concentrated in seven coun- tries, in the following order: Sweden, Italy, France, Lithuania, Norway, The Netherlands and Denmark. Amongst these seven, five countries now have more than 200,000 connected subscribers.

France and Portugal broke into the ranking for the first time, helped by strong deployment of fibre infra- structure as well as marketing efforts to engage subscribers. FTTH uptake in both countries is expected to continue to increase rapidly as both countries also rank in the top ten economies in terms of the availability of FTTH. In absolute figures Europe has reached 2.5 million subscribers – 3.5 million if Russia is also included.

At the FTTH Conference 2010 in February, the FTTH Council Europe unveiled the latest figures showing which European countries are leading the way in the penetration of fibre-to- the-home at year-end 2009. Although Sweden, Norway and Slovenia maintained their places in the top five, they were overtaken by Lithuania, which made a dynamic jump to the number one position with 18 per cent FTTH penetration. All four countries now have penetration rates greater than 10 per cent. New shareholder in Italian WWM Supplier of wiredrawing machines for the steel wire industry, Ernst Koch GmbH & Co KG now holds a 49% share in Italian manufacturer, Welding Wire Machineries Srl (WWM). WWM supplies producers of welding wires around the world and, in the past, Koch has implemented many joint projects with the company. Koch expects its shareholding in WWM to result in even better cooperation in terms of the development of new welding wire machines and equip- ment, as well as in obtaining greater expertise in the production of welding electrodes and flux-cored welding wire. According to executive director Jochen Koch, WWM could also partner with his long-established company when it comes to equipment that complements the drawing machines. “Working with WWM allows us to enter the Italian market directly. This will facilitate both the distribution of our own machines and the com- mercialisation of our joint projects while we will also benefit from the possibility to purchase additional components and equipment,” ex- plained executive director Thomas Voss. Ernst Koch GmbH & Co KG – Germany Fax : +49 2372 985 167 Email : sales@koch-ihmert.de Website : www.koch-ihmert.com

FTTH Council Europe – Belgium Fax : +32 2503 2277 Email : info@ftthcouncil.eu Website : www.ftthcouncil.eu

150,000km installed base for OPGW

Prysmian Cables & Systems has reached a major milestone in its optical ground wire (OPGW) business with the latest delivery of a system which takes its total installed worldwide cable volume past the 150,000km mark. OPGW cable forms an integral part of an overhead electricity network, performing both the primary function of a conventional earth conductor together with the provision of a state-of-the-art communications link, due to the optical fibres contained within. The project is being carried out with one of the main power utilities in Eastern Europe, with the cable manufactured at Prysmian’s main facility at Vilanova, near Barcelona together with the production unit in Soracaba, Brazil. Prysmian also produced the optical fibres within the cable at the company’s facility in Battipaglia, Italy. Since supply of OPGW began in 1984, Prysmian’s aluminium tube technology design has been installed into a wide range of environments in all five continents. “This is an important achievement for us and confirms the commitment shown by our customers in our OPGW system over the last quarter of a century,” said Mr Raul Gil, head of Prysmian’s global OPGW business. “We have now installed our system in more than 80 countries around the world and we are delighted to reach this significant point in the product’s history.”

Prysmian Cables & Systems – Italy

Website : www.prysmian.com

downloadable content. Additions to the site include: Expanded details of IST’s range • of spring testing equipment “Meet the staff” page • History of IST • Information on British and • European funded IST research IST members will also have access to a “Members Only” area. Institute of Spring Technology – UK Fax : +44 114 252 7997 Email : ist@ist.org.uk Website : www.ist.org.uk

The Institute of Spring Technology (IST) has launched a new version of its website. Designed to be more attractive than its predecessor, and with clearer navigation, the new site provides full details of the services, equipment, testing and technical expertise available at IST. The new site has been developed in-house and incorporates extra information, improved graphics, mov- ing pictures and significantly more New website for IST

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Wire & Cable ASIA – May/June 2010