Gaining Momentum

The mega government projects, along with a rapid mobile broadband uptake, have provided the much-needed fillip to the telecom cable deployments

Cables are considered as backbones for any form of communications. With the rollout and uptake of faster bandwidth services such as 3G and 4G, the industry is witnessing a considerable shift towards broadbandbased applications like live TV on web, video streaming, web-based collaboration and HDTV.

This has driven the demand for telecom cable deployments and has, in turn, led to a revival in the segment, which had witnessed a lull for the past few years.

The telecom cables offerings have broadly been segmented into polyethylene insulated jelly filled (PIJF) cable, optical fiber cable, and Community Access TV (CATV) categories. Out of these, optical fiber cables (OFCs) have the maximum market and revenue share.

The demand for copper cables has dipped considerably in the India market. The reason for the slowdown is a subdued uptake, especially from the private players. The investment in OFCs on the other hand is largely driven by the fact that it offers better bandwidth and can support data traffic.

The demand for OFC cables on the other hand is on the rise, largely because of installations in tier two and three cities. The government’s initiatives for infrastructure development in sectors such as power generation and distribution, telecom, railways, industrial and construction sectors have played a key role in driving the demand.

Technology Trends

Indian networks have been traditionally built for carrying voice — majorly in an outdoor communication mode. However, with data demand over mobile networks gaining momentum and telcos unveiling plans for 4G expansions, the Indian op- erators need to grow their tower fiberization from current 20 percent to over 50 percent. This will help them meet the consumer need for effective indoor data coverage and create an infrastructure that is future proof.

In metros, deployment of 100G will gain impetus as it provides massive cost reduction. Operators will continue to look for cost-effective technology solutions that can meet their long-term demand.

There are three types of cables which are primarily in use today: Optical fiber cables, copper pair cables and coaxial cables. Together they formed several permutation and combinations for users. Cables with large diameter and multiple shields are less likely to leak — a trait that makes coaxial cable a preferred choice for carrying weak signals for better performance.

There also are vital gaps in the backhaul networks. A lot of tower backhaul