Telecom Lead Africa: FibreCo Telecommunications, a South
African open-access network provider, is deploying Corning optical fiber
in its new long-distance fiber optic network in South Africa.
The optical fiber cable contains both Corning SMF-28e+ LLand LEAF optical
fibers. Phase 1 of FibreCo’s construction began with a 2,000-km
link between Johannesburg and Cape Town connecting Bloemfontein, East London,
and Port Elizabeth. The subsequent phases of the project will see additional
routes being built to enhance network redundancy and resilience. The project’s
total distance will cover 12,000 km.
Many submarine optical cables now connect South Africa
to the rest of the world and a significant increase in terrestrial fiber
capacity supply is required. Our network will provide the necessary high-speed
capacity in South Africa as well as the ability for our customers to easily
upgrade their networks to higher data rates without the need to re-install
fiber,” said Arif Hussain, FibreCo CEO.
This is the first deployment of SMF-28e+ LL fiber in
South Africa.SMF-28e+ LL fiber offers a unique combination of low
attenuation values and low polarization mode dispersion (PMD) with ITU
G.652.D-compliant performance for longer spans and reach. Also, SMF-28e+ LL
fiber enables more repair margin which is important when fiber is damaged or
cut.
Corning’s SMF-28e+ LL and LEAF optical fibers have the
lowest attenuation, or signal loss, specification in the industry in their
respective categories. By using these products, FibreCo will have the ability to
upgrade to even higher data rates as their customers demand new services,” said
Barry Linchuck, division vice president and director, Worldwide
Marketing, Corning Optical Fiber.
LEAF fiber is the most widely-deployed, non-zero
dispersion shifted fiber. It also has lowest attenuation and largest effective
area of any ITU-T G.655-compatible optical fiber, enabling networks to evolve
from the current 10 Gb/s to the 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s systems of the future.
Construction of the FibreCo network began in April and
the first link is expected to be completed in 2013.