Italy-based energy and telecom cable manufacturers Prysmian Group and Tratos Cavi have signed a contract for the annual supply of Prysmian’s standard and special optical fibre to Tratos.
Tratos will use the fibre in its cables for high-speed broadband and fibre to the home (FTTH) networks in Italy and abroad.
Tratos has being supplying Telecom Italia since 1982, with whom it has an annual general agreement worth several million euros, according to the cable maker’s website. Telecom Italia has embarked upon a project to roll out FTTH to 20 per cent of Italian homes and business by 2020 (see Fastweb and Telecom Italia to build national FTTH network).
The volumes supplied to all customers are expected to increase in the coming years, driven by the Italian government’s plans to develop a high-speed broadband network in line with European policy goals as well as investments in fibre to the antenna for next-generation mobile technologies.
The European Commission’s updated Digital Agenda sets the 2025 goal of gigabit connections for all schools, libraries, research centres and public administration offices, uninterrupted 5G coverage in all urban areas and for all European households, and connections that offer download speeds of at least 100Mbp/s in rural and urban areas, which can be upgraded to gigabit speeds (see EU to propose universal 100M broadband target for 2025). Fibre-optic networks appear to be essential to achieve these ambitious targets.
“This contract represents an important collaboration between the two major Italian firms producing passive telecommunications components,” said Carlo Scarlata, chief commercial officer at Prysmian Cavi e Sistemi Italia. “This is a way for Italy to show that it can act independently in building the infrastructure needed to achieve the European goals.”
The fibre will be manufactured at Prysmian’s plant in Battipaglia, which produces 9 million of the approximately 35 million kilometres of fibre manufactured by the company every year.
Albano Bragagni, chairman of Tratos, agreed: “The agreement between our company and Prysmian Group is founded on a strong desire for an ongoing, long-term partnership, supported by the experience and mutual esteem built in the two companies’ more than 30-year relationship, with the aim of making a shared contribution to Italy’s digital development and growth.”
The agreement highlights Italy’s expertise and production capacity in telecoms and broadband network projects, the companies said.
