Himachal Futuristic Communications Limited (HFCL) on Monday launched an optical fiber manufacturing facility at Hyderabad. This facility forms part of the backward integration plan of the company for its optical fiber cable manufacturing activity. This unit will have an initial capacity of approximately six and half million fiber kilometer per annum which it plans to utilize for captive consumption. The estimated project cost of the project is INR 250 crore. The company currently manufactures optical fiber cables at its Goa plant, besides at Chennai through its subsidiary HTL Limited. The move is aimed at reducing the input cost and overcoming the domestic shortage of fiber which is 35 Mil Fiber Kms. HFCL unit was inaugurated by Hon’ble Minister Sri KT Rama Rao, Principal Secretary Sri Jayesh Ranjan, Sri Sujai Karampuri, Director (Electronics) along with other dignitaries from the state and the board members of the company.

The optical fiber is a scarce resource today in India and across the world. In itself requires thirty five million fiber kilometer per annum as of the financial year 2018. The demand for the optical fiber has increased rapidly in the last few years citing the growth of BharatNet projects, Smart-city projects and other telecom related 4G & 5G projects. The initial capacity of approximately six and half million fiber kilometer per annum would increase to approximately fifteen million fiber kilometer per annum over a period of time. The company in itself requires twelve million fiber kilometer per annum of optical fiber for its cable manufacturing. Once the captive utilization capacity is met, HFCL plans to sell the optical fiber to other companies working in the same space.

With the investment of INR 250 crore, the company proposes to employ one thousand people directly or indirectly. Moreover, with this facility and the output, it plans to serve the state led project of T-Fiber and expects the ancillaries to come to Telangana and help the state’s vision of creating a related industrial eco-system in Hyderabad and neighbouring industrial localities. With the inauguration of this optical fiber manufacturing facility, the state of Telangana is a step closer to bridge the gap of the demand and supply in the Indian optical fiber market space and boost the related ecosystem.