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The contract will see Prysmian Group support Openreach’s updated full fibre broadband build plan to help deliver ‘gigabit capable broadband’ to 85 per cent of the UK by 2025. This is as Openreach follows an extended investment commitment by its parent, BT Group meaning that it’ll now build full fibre technology to a total of 25 million premises, including more than six million in the hardest-to-serve parts.
In the framework of this renewed partnership, Openreach has recently undertaken a live trial using the double overblow installation method developed by Prysmian Group. This 'Karona' installation technique enables the installation of high density optical fibre cable into pre-existing sub-ducted routes, already containing legacy cable.
The trial took place at Stonehaven in Scotland. The cable used for the trial was Sirocco HD 144f with 5mm diameter, and the installation method allowed the overblow of 600mts of cable in less than four hours, increasing the capacity of the route to 432f. The installation technique was repeated at Bury St Edmunds, where a route of 730mts was successfully overblown in less than four hours.
‘Prysmian has been a partner with Openreach for over 50 years. This latest contract reflects the positive impact our working relationship has had on the UK’s digital networks infrastructure,; said Marcello Del Brenna, CEO at Prysmian Group UK. ‘The extension of our working relationship comes at a time where Prysmian is investing in telecommunications innovation to ensure our digital network partners have the cutting-edge solutions. We have also taken great steps forward with our sustainability effort, eliminating paper inclusions from our products and replacing them with digital solutions.’
Matthew Hemmings, MD for fibre and network delivery at Openreach added: ‘Building a new broadband network across the UK is a hugely complex, nationwide engineering project – second only to HS2 in terms of investment. It will help level-up the UK because the impact of full fibre broadband stretches from increased economic prosperity and international competitiveness, to higher employment and environmental benefits by enabling more home working and fewer commuting trips. We place huge importance in our partner network and seek long-term and strategic collaborations. Prysmian is a great example of this and this sustained partnership means we can benefit from its teams’ skills and innovation to help us build Full Fibre even further.’
