press release

Fujikura Ltd. (Koto-ku, Tokyo; Director, President and CEO: Masahiko Ito) is pleased to announce that it has recently relocated and expanded its factory at group companies AFL Telecommunications Europe Ltd. (Swindon, Wiltshire, UK), and has built a new optical fiber cable production line which has now begun operation.

The newly installed line will produce Air Blown Wrapping Tube Cable ^™ (AB-WTC ^™) ^*3, an air-blown ^*2 small-diameter, high-density Optcal Fiber ribbon cable that application our proprietary 12-fiber intermittently fixed Optcal Fiber ribbon, Spider Web Ribbon ® (SWR ® ) ^* 1.
The start of local production will enable MHI to provide more comprehensive customer services to its European customers and further improve its ability to provide a stable supply to its customers by strengthening its supply chain. Furthermore, the start of local production will contribute to revitalizing the local economy and creating new jobs.

Currently, in the UK and EU countries, the development of broadband networks using optical networks is progressing at a rapid pace in line with the digital strategy of each country. In addition, the need for efficient promotion of the development of optical networks is also increasing against the backdrop of a sharp increase in data traffic due to an increase in telecommuting caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this environment, our SWR ^®, WTC ^® and AB-WTC™ technologies have shown unparalleled results in reducing TCO (Total Cost of Ownership), which has been highly praised and has already been widely adopted by major carriers, operators, ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and other customers in Europe, including the UK, starting with full-scale adoption by British Telecommunications (BT)/Openreach ^*4 in 2019.

To commemorate the start of operations of the new production line, an opening ceremony was held locally, attended by representatives from the Embassy of Japan in the UK, major customer, local government and administrative officials, and other relevant parties.

Commenting on the start of local production, Andy Whale, Technology Director at Openreach, a major customer, said:
"Openreach's goal is to build and deliver the highest quality optical fiber network to our customers faster and more widely than any other business. To achieve this, we will strengthen our partnership with Fujikura Group, which has innovative technological capabilities.
We are pleased that our optical network investment will create additional jobs and further strengthen our supply chain."

Fujikura Group will continue to contribute to the construction and development of FTTx and 5G networks in the UK and Europe by providing optical cable products such as ^SWR® / ^WTC® and total optical cable wiring solutions.

*1 Spider Web Ribbon ^® (SWR ^®) is the name of our proprietary 12-core intermittently fixed Optcal Fiber ribbon. Because of its intermittently fixed structure, it has the excellent aspect of both ribbon fiber and single-core fiber. Because SWR ^® is highly flexible, it can be mounted in a cable at high density, contributing to thinner diameters and higher density.
*2 The air-blowing type is a method for laying optical cables, in which compressed air is blown into the conduit to pressurize the optical cable. This method is widely used mainly in Europe and the United States.
*3 Wrapping Tube Cable ^® (WTC ^®) is the name of a small-diameter, high-density Optcal Fiber ribbon cable that uses SWR®. By application multi-fiber mass fusion splicing, completely dry construction, stripe ring marking, and SZ bunching technology, installation work time can be significantly reduced compared to conventional optical cables.
*4 BT Group's optical network construction and operation business company