Plans to increase fibre production are often noteworthy, but the announcement by HFCL Limited, one of India's largest optic fibre manufacturers, that it is planning to increase fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) cable production by 33 percent at its Hyderabad facility could be very significant.

The capacity increase, due to take place over the next three months, follows on from what Indian press reports are calling robust domestic and overseas demand. The company is currently supplying cable to large operators deploying last-mile fibre networks for home and enterprise users.

Leading operators Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel in particular are said to be aggressively focussing on creating dense FTTH networks in large cities for triple-play services, not least thanks to a growth in demand after working from home became necessary due to the Covid-19-induced lockdown.

The Indian press has noted that the shift to next-generation networks, when it comes, will also create demand for fibre-based connectivity, especially as a lot more will need to be done in the area of tower fiberisation.

Last December, HFCL started commercial cable production at its new unit at Hyderabad, the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana in southern India, as a part of its expansion strategy. It has now become the country's largest manufacturer in the area of FTTH cable. It has the capacity to manufacture nearly 20 million fibre kilometres (fkm) of optic fibre cable annually.

Today it can boast an order book of over $1 billion, which is double the revenue of last year. It is focusing on opportunities both in India and abroad.