ARCEP visits Europe’s largest optical fibre plant in France

Prysmian Group, world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry, welcomed today a delegation of several representatives from ARCEP (French Regulator of the electronic communications and postal sectors) who visited two of the Group’s manufacturing plants dedicated to optical fibre and cable production, in Douvrin and Calais.

With a total plant area of 155,000 m² and 385 employees, the Douvrin facility is the biggest European plant for fibre optic production and one of the nine Prysmian factories in France. Prysmian Group is the number one producer of optical fibre in Europe and in France, in particular, with fully proprietary plasma technologies. Every year this plant produces 25 million km of fibre preforms, a part of which is drawn into fibres on site and the rest is exported to be drawn elsewhere.

 

The factory in Calais is entirely dedicated to the production of optical cables containing 1 to 4,000 fibres. Calais is the first plant involved in Prysmian’s Factory 4.0 pilot project, named ‘Fast Track’. This project represents a step forward in the implementation of the Prysmian Group’s Fast Forward Operations programme aimed at creating smarter plants leveraging on the interaction between digital knowledge and human expertise.

 

“This visit was a further proof for the French ARCEP authority that Prysmian Group is constantly investing in its optical fibre and cable capacities in France to respond to the needs of the market,” said Philippe Vanhille, SVP Telecom at Prysmian Group.

 

“At present, France is one of the most dynamic markets in the world for fibre optic production. Like most of its peers, Prysmian Group is currently investing to increase its production capacity in order to address the current situation of fibre shortage in the market. The Douvrin plant is included in Prysmian’s ongoing €250 million investment plan for its worldwide optical fibre and cable facilities.”

 

“We are honoured that ARCEP visited two of Prysmian’s most important plants in France, and in Europe,” added Laurent Tardif, CEO of Prysmian Group South Europe Region.

 

“Prysmian not only has a strong presence in this country, but is also widely involved in the development of the country’s telecom and power infrastructures. We are currently also providing more reliable and sustainable power connections, through the development of the France-Spain and Italy-France interconnectors.”