For regional FTTH operators
Six network layers, one supplier, one shipment — and a straight answer on what to specify.
Most cable suppliers will sell you a drum of whatever you name. That works if you already know exactly what to name. If you are a regional operator putting fibre past a few thousand homes a year, the harder part is usually the specifying, not the buying.
So we do it the other way round. Send us the build — how many homes, aerial or ducted, how many premises per branch, what the tender says about fire class — and we come back with a bill of materials layer by layer, with the reasoning attached. If something in your specification will cause trouble on site, we would rather say so before the order than after.
A full FTTH build touches six different cable constructions. Sourcing them from six suppliers means six MOQs, six lead times, six sets of test certificates and six chances for one late item to hold up a crew. We make all six, so it goes out as one mixed load with one set of paperwork.
For regional FTTH operators
A full FTTH build has six layers and they do not take the same cable. Below is what we supply for each, and what to pin down before you ask for a price.
Everything else is packaging. Get the fibre grade right first — it decides your loss budget and how tight a bend the install crew can get away with.
G.652.D for the outside plant; G.657.A1 or A2 anywhere the route gets tight — risers, wall boxes, pre-terminated assemblies.
High fibre count, long runs, ducted or direct-buried. This is the section you least want to dig up again, so armour and fibre count both want headroom.
Fibre count including spare (plan 30–50% above day-one demand), duct or direct burial, and whether rodents are a known problem on the route.
Mid count, shorter runs, more joints. Handling matters more here than raw strength: your crews will be opening these all day.
Fibre count per branch, duct versus aerial, and the closure type you standardise on — tube count has to match it.
Where trenching is not worth it. If you are sharing poles with live power lines, the cable has to be all-dielectric — no metal anywhere.
Longest span in metres, whether the poles carry live LV/MV lines, and who owns them. Span length decides the construction, not the fibre count.
The highest volume item in any FTTH build and the one your install crews touch most. Strip time per drop, multiplied by thousands of homes, is real money.
Aerial or underground, span length, 1 / 2 / 4 core, and whether your crews field-connectorise or splice on site.
Indoors in the EU this is where the fire regulations bite. Getting the class wrong is not a price difference, it is a failed inspection.
The CPR Euroclass your project specifies (Eca / Dca / Cca / B2ca) — it changes the sheath compound and therefore the lead time. Tell us at enquiry stage.
Rail tunnels, mine roadways, plant rooms. Fire performance and mechanical protection together, usually against a specification someone else wrote.
The exact standard the specification cites, plus whether metal is allowed in the construction at all.
Standards and compliance
Tell us the model, quantity and destination port. Most enquiries are answered within one business day.