Openreach awarded a new three-year contract to Prysmian Group to support its updated Full Fibre broadband build plan which will be fundamental to the UK Government achieving its target of delivering ‘gigabit capable broadband’ to 85 per cent of UK by 2025.
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 5.0mm diameter, and the innovative installation method allowed to overblow 600mts of cable in less than 4 hours, increasing the capacity of the route to 432f. This installation technique was repeated at Bury St Edmunds, where a route of 730mts was successfully overblown in less than 4 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,” comments Marcello Del Brenna, CEO 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, said “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. ”
