The growth of optical fiber applications such as triple play, FTTH, smart grid, and even the Internet of Things is increasing. It is not the capacity for the new round of optical fiber expansion in China, but the ability of enterprises to grasp the future market and the strategic vision of long-term development.
The low price of 70 yuan per kilometer of fiber optic core does not reduce the investment enthusiasm of the optical fiber cable manufacturers, but at the end of 2010, the domestic optical fiber cable industry set off another round of production boom.
On November 4, Changfei, the largest manufacturer of fiber optic cables in China, announced that the company’s investment in the second phase of its ninth expansion project was successfully completed. The additional 10 fiber drawing production lines increased the company’s annual fiber production capacity by 66%. %, reaching 25 million core kilometers. Coupled with the expansion of mainstream manufacturers such as Hengtong, Fiberhome Communications, Fortis and Zhongtian Technology, the domestic optical fiber production capacity will exceed 100 million core kilometers by the end of the year.
The lower price of optical fiber and the expansion of production capacity will inevitably cause the market to have a sense of crisis of overcapacity of optical fibers. However, enterprises have shown sufficient confidence in the implementation of the expansion plan. Changfei deputy general manager Zhang Mu told reporters: "Telecom operators, radio and television operators, power grids and even aerospace, the demand for fiber has not been reduced, some areas of application are even in the market cultivation period, long-term expansion is planning Longer-term development."
Expansion of production and long-term development In 2010, although the usage of optical fiber in 3G networks has been reduced, the application of optical fibers such as triple play, FTTH, smart grid and even the Internet of Things continues to grow, and it is possible to form new market blowouts in the next few years. Fiber optic cable manufacturers must play a role in future competition and need to ensure production capacity and market competitive advantage. This has been confirmed by the large-scale expansion of major manufacturers. Because the application of the new optical fiber market involves home users, local area networks, power grids, and industrial fields, the environment is already very complicated, and it is difficult to establish a basis for competition in production alone, and more is a comparison of the overall strength of optical fiber manufacturing. As a result, each company has also carried out more profound business development plans and accumulated technological capabilities while expanding production.
Taking Changfei as an example, according to Zhang Mu, the biggest significance of this expansion is not the improvement of production capacity. More is based on the large-scale optical fiber preform production and high-speed continuous drawing of two major technologies independently integrated optical fiber manufacturing equipment. The scale of application. It is reported that the 10 fiber drawing lines of the 9th phase of Longfei fly can meet the requirements of a large-scale preform with a diameter of 185 mm and a length of 3 meters. The stable drawing is performed at a speed of 1800 meters per minute. This breakthrough in difficult technology is internationally recognized. Also in the lead. In fact, many mainstream fiber optic cable manufacturers now attach great importance to the research of fiber cabling solutions. This method of focusing on R&D and accumulation of technology is also a sign of industrial rational investment and development.
Relying on what Blue Ocean is relying on in the broadband products that can best demonstrate the core competitiveness of optical fibers, Long Flight will focus on bending-insensitive single-mode fiber G657 and bend-insensitive multimode fiber BI-OM3/OM4. Households, the latter are high value-added products for data transmission and enterprise network construction.
Zhang Mu said that FTTH and the use of optical fiber in large-scale data centers are emerging markets, and they are also high value-added products. They have high requirements for the bending resistance of optical fibers, and Changfei has a relatively complete product line and solution.
However, the opening of the Blue Ocean market is not just the process of new product promotion. Deeper industrial chain cooperation needs to be further intensified. The director of the Network Communication Design Institute of Jiangsu Posts and Telecommunications Planning and Design Institute Co., Ltd. said to reporters that fiber-to-the-home access is not only the manufacture of optical fibers and optical cables, but also pays special attention to the control of the life span of optical fibers and the rational use of pipeline resources.
At present, China Telecom, Changfei, Hengtong, Fiberhome, Zhongtian, Fortis, etc. have started from the aspects of network deployment and program design, and actively carry out research and promotion of optical fiber cabling solutions. The realization of the mature deployment of FTTH is no longer distant. . In the next step, optical fiber manufacturers will also face the development of a number of blue ocean markets such as overseas markets, smart grid market, and the Internet of Things market. The accumulation of technical and collaborative experience of manufacturers in the telecommunication market will greatly help the development of new fields and the growth of industries.
