News

On May 18, in Moscow, with the support of the Russian Ministry of Digital Development, the TELECOM: RELOAD conference was held. “Prospects for the Russian market of telecommunications equipment in the new conditions”. The partner of the conference was the "Optic fiber Systems" JSC (further OVS).

Andrey Nikolaev, General Director of OVS, addressed the conference with the report "Russian optical fiber as a key element in the implementation of the Strategy for the Communication Industry Development until 2035".

According to the speaker, if the experience of China is applied, when adopting the strategy for communication networks development up to 2035, the demand for optical fiber will increase by two-three times from current numbers.

Today, Russia is significantly behind the world leaders in terms of the volume of optical fiber laid per capita. “The volume of fiber consumption per capita, in my opinion, is an integral indicator of the development of communication networks, according to which Russia has lagged behind the world leaders by 4 times or by 300 million km in absolute figures,” Andrey Nikolaev noted.

In 2013, the level of development of communication networks in China corresponded to the current level of Russia: 0.53 km of fiber per capita (0.56 km in Russia as of today). However, also in the 2013, the adoption of the Broadband Internet Access Strategy, access network standards and the full development of LTE networks caused an explosive growth in fiber consumption in China: by 2.4 times, from 121 to 286 million km per year over the following 5 years.

This breakthrough is primarily driven by a set of measures introduced to develop and protect the optical fiber market in China. For example, China has import duties on optical fiber and optical fiber cable, developed standards governing the requirements for construction solutions and operation of access networks, and is actively developing the construction of new generation communication networks. The current measures help protect Chinese manufacturers while creating healthy competition in the domestic market.

According to Andrey Nikolaev, the experience of China, which has become the world leader in the field of telecommunications over the past 10 years, is applicable both to the strategy for developing communication networks up to 2035 and to creation of the technologies and industries necessary for its implementation.

“We hope that the target parameters that are to be established in the Strategy will be converted into understandable for manufacturers demand figures in order to build a program for the development of the necessary industries. The lack of a strategic paradigm and solid demand forecasts seriously impacts investment opportunities in the industry. So, today the plans for the development of telecom operators do not include stable target volumes of laying fiber-optic cable in the future, which creates obstacles for the timely determination of investment programs for fiber and cable manufacturers,” Andrey Nikolaev said.

In turn, the OVS is confident that the demand for fiber will grow. “Preliminary strategic goals for the development of communication networks up to 2035 allow us to talk about the feasibility of creating the production of optical fiber with a capacity of at least 10 million km per year in the Russian Federation by 2026,” Andrey Nikolaev concluded his speech.

Reference

“Optic fiber Systems” JSC (www.rusfiber.ru) – is the first and the only Russian plant manufacturing optical fiber. The plant is situated in Saransk, Mordovia Republic. It was officially opened on 25 September 2015. The shareholders of the company are RUSNANO, Gazprombank and the Government of Mordovia Republic.

Optical fiber is the main component of optic cables for signal transmission in modern communication networks. Fiber is also used as a sensor for monitoring deformation, temperature, acoustics and other indicators.

"Optic fiber Systems" JSC produces telecommunication optical fibers of standards G652 and G 657 A1 including those with reduced diameter of 200 microns; provides services on optical fiber coloring and the application of ring marks "ringmarking". Optical fibers of new types such as G651 and G655 are being prepared for release. Products are certified in Russia and the quality is confirmed by "Rostelecom" PJSC, Russia's leading cable companies and foreign consumers.

According to the results of certification, optical fiber was approved for use on the networks of the largest Russian Telecom operators Rostelecom, MTS, MegaFon and others.

Manufacturing capacity of the plant is 4 mln kilometers of optical fiber per year.