China's High in Fiber

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Domestic fiber production volume in China will experience a compound annual growth rate of 27%, rising to 16.4 million fiber-km in 2005 from 5.8 million fiber-km in 2000, according to a new report from KMI Research entitled Optical Fiber and Fiberoptic Cable Markets in China - Carrier Profiles and Market Forecasts. China is expected to use about 16 million fiber-km from overseas suppliers each year between 2001 and 2005. Domestic fiber suppliers will provide China with 7 million fiber-km in 2001, rising to 16 million in 2005. China has more than 200 fiberoptic cable manufacturers; collectively, they used only 22% of their cabling capacity in 2001. Continuing deregulation and accession into the World Trade Organization will accelerate China's fiberoptic network expansion beyond the 10% annual growth it has experienced in the last decade. Fiberoptic cable deployment in China, among all carriers and expressed in cumulative route kilometers, grew nearly four-fold to 2.2 million route-km over the five year forecast period, up from 575,700 route-km in 1996. Deployment is forecast to reach 4.1 million route-km in 2005, according to: KMI's Optical Fiber and Fiberoptic Cable Markets in China - Carrier Profiles and Market Forecasts which forecasts fiber deployment, profiles carriers, and provides details on the production volume and capacity of manufacturers in this region. KMI Corp.