From postcards to video calls, the world has moved on to newer, faster and easier forms of communication in a matter of a few decades. This progress has been made due to the proliferation of optical fibre cable (OFC) networks around the globe. But many miss the fact that India is already the world’s third-largest exporter of OFCs, with exports witnessing double-digit growth over the last few years.
Do you remember how excruciating it was to stream some-thing online a decade ago? Well, in those days, most Internet providers were using standard copper wires that were incapable of supporting data rates that were required for streaming. In fact, we spent more time buffering than browsing. But gone are those days, and today we are able to consume high-definition videos on our connected devices, all thanks to the usage of optic fibre cables (OFC).
While, to laymen, it’s still an ‘Internet cable/wire’, OFC is very different from the standard copper cable. OFC contains hair-like thin fibres that are made of silica glass and is designed for durability and speed that is the hallmark of the present day telecommunication and data networks. Today, OFC is the life blood that supports half the world’s communication networks. In India, the traditional copper wires started being replaced by OFC in the mid-2000s and today India has emerged as one of the largest users of OFCs in the world.
HIGH POTENTIAL
What is more interesting is that India, despite its huge domestic appetite, is also a major exporter of OFC. In FY2017 India’s total exports of OFC was $232.59 million, which makes it the third-largest exporter of OFC in the world, behind US and Japan. In fact, since FY2012, India’s exports of OFC have grown 66.10%. Concurring to the growth, a report published by ReportsnReports reveals that in CY2015, the demand for OFC raw material across the globe increased to 11,017 metric tonne (MT), up by 21.6% from 2014. And guess what? The global demand is expected to increase further by 90.6% to 21,000 MT by CY2020. And, when it comes to India alone, TechSci Research released a report revealing that the Indian OFC market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 13% between CY2016 and CY2020.
This story is from the September 2017 edition of The Dollar Business.
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This story is from the September 2017 edition of The Dollar Business.
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