February 25, 2004 Los Angeles, CA -- Corning Inc. yesterday presented its annual overview of the optical fiber industry at an investor and media briefing held in conjunction with the annual Optical Fiber Communications Conference.
2003 Fiber market
According to Bob Brown, senior vice president and general manager, Optical Fiber, the total 2003 worldwide fiber market remained approximately flat at about 55 million fiber kilometers. These estimated numbers match Corning's expectations provided at last year's event.
North America, which accounted for 25% of the total worldwide demand, declined by approximately 10% as carriers continued with the capital expenditure reductions that began during 2001. Western Europe, representing 10% of the worldwide demand, remained flat. Japan, which captured 30% of the worldwide demand, decreased slightly by 5%. China, representing 25% of the worldwide demand, rose 35% as fiber deployments in the metro and access application segments increased. "Other Asia," which represented 5% of the worldwide demand, decreased by about 5%; Latin America and "Rest of World," which comprised 5% of the worldwide demand, remained flat.
Long-haul terrestrial/submarine accounted for 10% of the total worldwide demand, but showed a decline of approximately 25%. Demand for fiber in metro applications, representing 45% of the total worldwide demand, remained flat. Access demand grew 10% in 2003 and represented about 40% of total worldwide demand. Premises, accounting for 5% of the total worldwide demand, grew by about 5%. Brown also noted that Corning expects to see little change in 2004, with strength of worldwide fiber demand continuing to come from the metro and access segments. Premises applications should also continue to grow as the corporate economy gains momentum.
Product announcements
Corning's Optical Fiber Division also unveiled its latest product and manufacturing innovations, including a new optical fiber for converged voice, video, and data services networks. Corning NexCor optical fiber is a new standard singlemode fiber that handles twice the launch power of other ITU-T G.652 fibers by addressing a defining system limitation in Fiber-to-the-x (FTTx) and cable television networks delivering analog video services to consumers.
NexCor fiber's power advantage is designed into the optical fiber itself through Corning-engineered MaxPower technology, which increases the stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) threshold by 3 dB over other ITU-T G.652 fibers, say Corning representatives. This 3-dB increase equates directly to doubled launch power capability, reducing network costs by enabling broader network coverage and more efficient network design.