A new US$ 25 million unit of Italy“s Pirelli group, Pirelli Cavi, is set to begin production of 600,000 km of optical fibre a year. The 3,200-square-metre facility, located in the Brazilian city of S…
A new US$ 25 million unit of Italy“s Pirelli group, Pirelli Cavi, is set to begin production of 600,000 km of optical fibre a year. The 3,200-square-metre facility, located in the Brazilian city of Sorocaba, will be the biggest in South America. Production will be destined mainly to Pirelli Cavi“s own optical cable plants in Brazil and Argentina, where the Italian firm hopes to maintain leadership of the turnkey optical networks sector in South America. The South American telecommunications market is one of the sectors of greatest growth in the world. In Brazil, for example, the government programme for the modernising and expansion of the country“s postal and telecommunications services will involve investments totalling US$ 80 billion over the next six years and will lead to 100% of long-distance communications being transferred to optic-fibre networks. Rapid growth is also expected in the cable-TV sector. By 1999, it is forecast to have a capacity of over 7 million subscribers, increasing to 16 million within six years. And optic-fibre technology is rapidly replacing traditional electronic equipment in telecommunications networks. Demand will clearly increase in a sector where Pirelli has already built up considerable know-how thanks to its activity in North American markets. Pirelli Cavi, under managing director Giuseppe Morchio, has three other optic fibre production facilities; one in Italy (Battipaglia) and two in the United Kingdom (Harlow and Bishopstoke).