WCA July 2019

India Insight

Backward to move forward

“While mitigating the toughest challenges of our time – [from] climate change and deteriorating ecosystem to human health risks – our zero waste to landfill initiative reiterates the trust that our customers and partners have on us, in India and worldwide. “Our recycle and reuse initiatives have also helped us improve our manufacturing efficiency, bringing significant resource savings.” Sterlite Tech’s glass and optical fibre manufacturing plant in Aurangabad, and its speciality cable manufacturing plant in Dadra, have been given Intertek’s near-zero waste to landfill certifications for diverting over 95 per cent waste from landfill. Sterlite Tech – India Website : www.sterlitetech.com Long-awaited acquisition Tata Sponge Iron Ltd, a subsidiary of Tata Steel, has completed its acquisition of Usha Martin’s steel business and the operation of Usha Martin’s one-million-tonne integrated steel plant near Jamshedpur. Usha Martin assets include the Jamshedpur steel plant, a 135MW power plant, an iron ore mine and a coal block. In addition, both the parties have signed a wire rod supply agreement that will benefit Usha Martin’s wire rope business. Tata Sponge Iron Ltd – India Website : www.tatasponge.com PEACE lands Cybernet Pakistan has signed a deal to land the PEACE cable at Karachi, on the Pakistan coast. The Pakistan and East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) cable will be 12,000km long when it goes into service in 2020. A privately owned cable system, it will add a total capacity of 96Tbps to Pakistan’s Internet infrastructure. The cable will adopt the latest 200G and WSS technology, and will be capable of transmitting over 16Tbps per fibre pair. The first phase of the cable system will have landings in Pakistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya and France, providing critical interconnection to the economic corridors of Asia, Europe and Africa. The cable will have a round-trip latency of 89ms between Karachi and Marseille, 59ms between Djibouti and Marseille, and 102ms between Mombasa and Marseille. Cybernet Pakistan – Pakistan Website : www.cyber.net.pk

Sterlite Tech launched its backward-compatible ribbon cable TruRibbon TM at the Optical Networking and Communication Conference in California, USA, in March.

❍ ‘Right first time’ installation from Sterlite

Optimised for ‘right first time’ installation, TruRibbon is designed to offer five key benefits for time and cost saving in fibre network rollouts: ultra-high fibre count solution for small cells, data centres and FTTx backhaul requirements; compatibility with all legacy ribbon splicing, stripping, handling techniques and capital equipment; ease of use; easy identification with printable ribbons; and a significantly reduced diameter, compared to traditional ribbon design cables. Backward-compatibility ensures that the solution can be easily spliced to legacy ribbon using existing equipment, avoiding the cost of new splicing equipment or a change in practices. “TruRibbon is …[a] solution that brings massive connectivity for multiple applications, at reduced cost,” said Dr Badri Gomatam, group CTO, Sterlite Tech. “Our TruRibbon product features combine to create a unique value proposition for our customers,” he added. Sterlite Tech – India Website : www.sterlitetech.com Taking care of waste Sterlite Tech’s optical fibre cable manufacturing plant in Rakholi, Silvassa, has been given Intertek’s zero waste to landfill certification. The manufacturing facility diverts over 99 per cent of waste away from landfill, making it the first optical fibre plant in India to receive this third-party global certification. “We are committed to sustainable manufacturing and reducing environmental impact. Becoming India’s first large-scale telecommunications equipment manufacturing facility to receive Intertek’s zero waste to landfill certification is a recognition of our consistent efforts in being responsible to the community and the environment,” said Akanksha Sharma, head – CSR and sustainability at Sterlite. Explaining the benefits of the programme, Ms Sharma said:

43

www.read-wca.com

Wire & Cable ASIA – November/December 2016 Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 9