Optic Fibre

Sterlite Technologies Ltd is investing Rs 200 crore in an integrated capacity expansion programme for both optical fibre and fibre optic cables. Elaborating on the expansion programme that would come on line next year, Dr. Anand Agarwal, CEO & Director, Sterlite Technologies Ltd said, "With the strong outlook by the telecom and power sectors in India and the world, Sterlite believes that these capacity enhancements would give a strategic advantage to capitalize on the emerging opportunities."
STL is doubling its optical fibre capacity at its Aurangabad facility in Maharashtra from 6 million km to 12 million km. The company is also trebling its fibre optic cable manufacturing capacity from 2 million km to 6 million km at the Rakholi facility in Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
The total capital investment would be around Rs.200 crore, Agarwal said, adding that both the expansion projects are on track for commissioning next year. "The cables expansion is scheduled for completion by March 2009 while the optical fibre expansion will be in place by June," he said. STL is in an advanced stage of discussion with leading global manufacturing equipment and raw material suppliers to streamline its efforts towards the expansion project milestones.
Discussing the project features, Agarwal said that the expanded facilities would be capable of manufacturing the company's existing range of fibre optic cable products and also have the intrinsic capability to manufacture cable products as per evolving (higher bandwidth) international telecom standards.
Sharing STL's vision of being amongst the world's top five companies with integrated (optical fibre and cables) operations, Agarwal said, "The ongoing expansions are in line with achieving this vision."

Contact: Sterlite Technologies Ltd, 4th Floor Godrej Millennium 9, Koregaon Road, Pune, Maharashtra 411001. Tel: 020-30514000; Fax: 020-26138083