Fiber Optic Cable Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)

The global fiber optic cable market (henceforth, referred to as the market studied) was valued at USD 9,236.5 million in 2020, and it is expected to reach USD 20,832.6 million by 2026, registering a CAGR of 14.5% during the period, 2021-2026 (henceforth, referred to as the forecast period).​ Increasing demand in FTTX and telecommunications industry and technological advancements are primarily responsible for the increased growth of the market.

• The optical fibers are getting smaller and smaller to the deployment challenges being raised by end-use applications. As telecom operators started looking for high fiber count cables in reduced diameters, optical fiber, and cable manufacturers are investing in research and development to realize smaller fibers and cables. In April 2020, Prysmian becomes the first company to release a portfolio of cables that make use of optical fibers having a diameter of 180µm (micrometers). These cables will be deployed for FTTx and 5G networks.​
• Moreover, in the past few years, cloud and content providers attempted to attract more users and offer reliable bandwidth-intensive services, thus, increasing the popularity of submarine infrastructure. The number of new submarine cables is set to grow by 50% in 2019, as compared to 2018 (source: TeleGeography’s submarine cable map). The lifetime for submarine cable is expected to be about 25 years.​
• Further, according to TeleGeography’s submarine cable map, submarine cables act as the backbone of the internet. There are about 350 submarine cables spanning 1.2 million kilometers connecting very close to 100 countries. According to SubmarineNetworks.com, the world of submarine cables is transforming rapidly with data compiled by Telegeography indicating USD 8 billion investments lined up in 2019-21.​
• Since the COVID-19 virus outbreak in December 2020, global impacts of the coronavirus disease 2020 (COVID-19) are already starting to be felt and will significantly affect the 5G Fiber Optic Cable market in 2020. COVID-19 can affect the global economy in three main ways: by directly affecting production and demand by creating supply chain and market disruption and by its financial impact on firms and financial markets.​ The largest concentration of the fiber optics supply chain can be found in Wuhan, home to Fiberhome, YOFC, and Accelink, among other companies, which together comprise 25% of the global optical fiber production capacity. During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand was usually weak, but production usually continues at reduced levels.
• Further, before COVID-19, the amount of optical cable installed worldwide decreased from the previous year for the first time since 2002. The quantity installed in 2018 exceeded 500 million fiber-km for the first time but then decreased below 480 million in 2019. So with the pandemic and after pandemic situation, the situation may go to the worse stage in some applications.​