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

Market Overview

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.​

Scope of the Report

• Fiber optic technology utilizes highly flexible, transparent fiber comprised of extruded glass or plastic to transmit data. A fiber optic cable incorporates glass threads as thin as human hair, each of which can transmit messages modulated into light waves. Although these cables are made with glass, they are highly durable and malleable. The report encompasses the study of the use of fiber optic technology across the IT, telecom, and BFSI sectors for data storage, in the medical sector for medical imaging and laser guiding, in military and defense for networking for aircraft, submarines, and other vehicles, in broadcasting networking for wiring CATV, internet, video-on-demand, and industrial imaging for difficult areas, sensory, and measurement purposes. The report study also covers the market segmentation by material, cable type, and geography.​

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Key Market Trends

IT and Telecom Sector is Expected to Witness Significant Growth

• Optical fiber cable (OFC) is a significant building block in the telecommunication infrastructure. Over the last decade, fiber optics are catering to aggressive bandwidth demands, especially telecommunication companies, and have become the preferred transmission medium.​
• The explosion of data traffic from various sources, such as the internet, e-commerce, computer networks, and multimedia (voice, data, and video), has led to the need for a transmission medium capable of handling higher bandwidth for handling such vast amounts of information. Fiber optic cables, with comparatively infinite bandwidth, have proven to be the solution.​
• Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the submarine Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connecting Chennai and Port Blair through video conferencing. He had laid the foundation stone for this project in 2018, at Port Blair. The submarine fiber cable connectivity will enable the delivery of faster and more reliable mobile and landline telecom services to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, on par with other parts of India. ​
• Enhanced telecom and Broadband connectivity will boost tourism and employment generation in the Islands, which will further give an impetus to the economy and raise standards of living. The new network will enable delivery of faster and more reliable mobile and landline telecom services to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, at par with other parts of the country. ​
• Moreover, owing to their security, scalability, and the unlimited bandwidth potential to handle the vast amount of backhaul traffic being generated, fiber optic cables are also being chosen to support the bandwidth levels catering to advanced technologies like 5G, Big Data, and IoT that rely heavily on real-time data collection and transfer. The launch of 5G is expected to enhance the capacity and lower latency straight to networks.​

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