On November 19, at Global Optical Fiber and Cable Conference 2019 organized by APC, Director of Division of Optical Communications in China Mobile Group Design Institute, Gao Junshi delivered a speech on Optical fiber and cable market enters “New Normal”. He introduced that China Mobile optical cable network adopts the method of layered construction and layered use. At present, nearly 20 million kilometers of optical cable lines have been built. 5G will not bring the same scale of demand as 4G and FTTH era, but the existing optical fiber and cable facilities need to improve maintenance efficiency through optical fiber technology innovation.
In the past two years, China Mobile has refined the access layer optical cable network, that is, the access layer is further divided into micro grid for networking, so that China Mobile optical cable is deployed in every street; the main achievement is to complete more than 500 million home pre-coverage, including nearly 200 million access to broadband services, and nearly 3 million base stations.
At present, 5G network in China is in full construction, in which access layer transmission network investment accounts for more than 80%, and access layer is the focus of 5G transport network. According to Gao Junshi, 5G front haul network can be divided into D-RAN and C-RAN. It can be divided into three networking scenarios: D-RAN deployment mode, C-RAN small centralized deployment mode and C-RAN large centralized deployment mode. Because 5G has the demand of dense coverage and low-cost network construction, C-RAN will become the main networking scenario of 5G front haul network.
Gao Junshi mentioned that as far as the overall industry situation is concerned, the demand for optical fiber and cable is slowing down. At present, FTTH scale coverage has been completed; compared with FTTH, 5G demand is small and stable, and the demand for optical cable has entered a stable period. "Compared with FTTH, 5G is difficult to recreate the same brilliance in the optical cable market." According to Gao Junshi, the demand for optical cables depends on the access layer and the number of access points. Before FTTH home broadband construction, there were 500 million access points. Now 5G C-RAN is a new driving force of optical fiber and cable, but the demand of formation of millions of access points is hard to match with that of FTTH. At present, home broadband coverage has basically been completed.
The demand for optical fiber and optical cable has entered a stable period, and the market of optical fiber and optical cable needs supply side reform to improve quality and efficiency; optical cable enterprises should strive for development with innovation and wait for the next cycle of optical fiber and optical cable market.
In terms of product innovation, we should innovate the product, reduce the cost, develop and produce low loss optical fiber, small loss, large cross-section G.654.E optical fiber, and reduce the cost as soon as possible, so as to cope with 400 G / 1 T transmission application.
In terms of extension innovation, fiber optic cable sensing management technology needs innovation, and the great leap forward construction has left a legacy. The maintenance of fiber optic cable lines is difficult, fiber optic cable failures and machine room relocation cause waste. For these problems, fiber optic sensor technology and Internet of things technology can be used to make dumb resources "voice" and effectively manage fiber optic cable.
