22 DECEMBER 2008 -- Prysmian Cables & Systems (search for Prysmian) today announced that its current contract with Andorra Telecom will help the Principality of Andorra to become the first country in the world to provide a direct optical fibre link to all homes (FTTH) and businesses. The project, which utilizes Prysmian's VertiCasa cable system, began earlier this year, and by the time of its completion in 2010, all 35,000 homes and business premises will be connected by fibre, providing them with ultra-high-speed broadband services.
The project is based around Prysmian's VertiCasa cable system, which is designed specifically to bring optical fibre directly to residents in all types of buildings, including high-rise and multiple dwelling units (MDU). According to Andorra Telecom, VertiCasa was chosen for the project due to the easy fibre access and break out it provides, reducing installation times and the need for skilled labour, therefore lowering overall costs. The system comprises a main riser cable of up to 48 fibres, which can be branched directly to individual subscribers on different floors of an MDU, without the need for splicing of the fibre within the riser of the building.
"We are extremely proud to be implementing such a project here in Andorra," contends Jaume Salvat, CEO of Andorra Telecom. "It demonstrates the commitment of Andorra Telecom to providing the best possible information infrastructure across the country, and with the support of Prysmian and the VertiCasa system, we will soon have all our citizens provided with a direct fibre link."
"We are delighted to be working with Andorra Telecom on this groundbreaking project," adds Giovanni B. Scotti, director of Prysmian's global telecoms cable and optical fibre business. "The VertiCasa system was designed with the MDU environment in mind and is proving to be ideally suited to the infrastructure requirements here in Andorra."
Prysmian says it has recently been involved in a number of other FTTH projects around the world including Europe, Middle East, Russia, and China among others, utilizing VertiCasa together with other proprietary products from its FTTH portfolio including Sirocco and Quickdraw.
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