Fibre optics and all its benefits are now within reach of rural areas previously starved of advanced communications. That is the key message from Alessandro Pirri, the Head of Connectivity and FTTx for Prysmian Cables & Systems, who will be speaking at the FTTH Council Europe conference and exhibition in Milan today.

In his address to an audience of  international industry professionals as part of a “Voice of the Industry” session, Mr Pirri will outline the benefits of bringing fibre to rural areas, including its ability to maintain countryside culture, reduce migration to cities, encourage agricultural growth and enable home-working. He will also explain how Prysmian – a leading worldwide player in the energy and telecommunications cable market – has modified its QUICKDR@W® solution to aid FTTF deployment for projects in Europe and internationally. QUICKDR@W® was originally designed to boost rapid FTTH rollout and is being demonstrated at the event.

“Using our expertise and technology, we have adapted our QUICKDR@W® pre-connectorised cabling system for successful use in low density areas right across Europe, where a “do-it-yourself” attitude must be supported by an easy to install product that requires minimal technical support,” said Mr Pirri. “So, focussing on customers' needs and responding to specific requirements, we have been able to deliver a reliable infrastructure based on low-cost cable installation using rural paths or cultivatable area borders, a high degree of mutualisation and do-it-yourself optical kits.”

One scheme that Mr Pirri is set to highlight is that of the Yvelines Project in France through which 1,600 households and 25 SMEs across three villages were supplied with fibre using 12km of existing local authority ducts and 8km of rural distribution. Working with FibTic - responsible for developing a sustainable optical fibre broadband implementation model across France - Prysmian used its QUICKDR@W® products and now intends to deploy over 200 DIY optical kits.

In addition to the Yvelines Project, Prysmian is also working with key telecom operators France Telecom, SFR and Free with the national rollout of fibre across the country and has demonstrated its cabling capabilities in several other countries in Europe.
 
Through the supply of its VertiCasa™ system, designed specifically to deliver an optical fibre connection to residents in high rise multi dwelling units, Prysmian has played a pivotal role in the Lattelecom FTTH project in Latvia. Work on this began in 2009 and incorporated a rollout plan to position Latvia as one of the best countries in Europe for levels of fibre penetration. First used in the construction of a block of flats, the VertiCasa™ system was expanded to cover 180,000 homes and reached 25,000 connections, with plans in place to extend this to 2,000 buildings in cities across the country.

In Russia, 1,000km of VertiCasa™ cable has also been installed. Russia is currently a key player in the adoption of FTTH/B and is a leading European country among the G20 economies in terms of subscriber fibre penetration. With a large proportion of Russian inhabitants living in MDU (Multi Dwelling Units) housing in the cities, the VertiCasa™ system is the ideal technology for providing a fast and cost effective fibre connection. Ongoing projects are planned in order to keep up with the Russian consumer's growing appetite for high speed broadband and Prysmian has been training local installation teams to deploy the systems across the vast territory.

For German company M-Net, Prysmian also has blown cables and has developed an advanced small yet high capacity 144f cable for blown applications.

Mr Pirri added: “It is our aim to give people the opportunity to access better and faster connection by working with operators to bring fibre closer to the end users through innovative and resource-effective cabling technology.”