The 7th World Optical Fiber & Cable Virtual Conference 2021, a premier event in the global optical fibre and cable sector, was held online from November 16-18, 2021 (Beijing time), bringing together numerous telecom operators, optical fibre and cable manufacturers as well as upstream and downstream producers across the global industry chain.

As a global leader in optical communication, Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company (hereinafter referred to as "YOFC", Stock Code: 601869.SH, 06869.HK) once again participated in the global event. On November 16, YOFC's Executive Director and President Dr. Zhuang Dan delivered a keynote speech themed Embrace Opportunities in the Gigabit Era and Rise to the New Cycle of Optical Industry and had a panel discussion with his counterparts from well-known international firms including Corning Inc. and Prysmian Group on development trends of the industry and how to navigate them.

"Serving as the cornerstone of the digital economy which has become a new driver of global economic growth, high-quality optical fibre networks have played an increasingly important role in connecting various industries and helping build smart cities. In the meantime time, the COVID-19 pandemic has fueled an increasing demand worldwide for fixed broadband and China's optical fibre and cable sector is entering a new stage of growth with fixed broadband transitioning to gigabit optical networks, indicating that the optical fibre and cable sector is witnessing the third growth stage," said Zhuang Dan at the conference. "With the gradual easing of the pandemic worldwide, the global market is expected to witness explosive growth in large-scale broadband projects. The sector will experience a capacity shortage over the next few years as a result of supply-side structural reform and accelerated phasing out of outdated production facilities under the influence of the pandemic. At present, driven by rising prices of optical fibres and cables, the sector is booming and the period of moving an innovation in technology to the application stage will be significantly shortened, opening up new opportunities for optical fibre and cable manufacturers that have the key technologies in place."

"Based on a development strategy that integrates innovation, branding and quality, YOFC is on track to embrace development opportunities of the gigabit era by rising to the next stage of growth of the optical fibre and cable sector. To this end, YOFC is building core competencies through independent innovation by strengthening its development and research efforts around the process technology for optical fibre preforms, G.654.E fibres with ultra-low attenuation, multi-core fibres, FTTR solutions, gigabit optical interconnect products and specialty fibres and expanding the application of its new products and solutions across various industries," added Mr. Zhuang. "Furthermore, YOFC is leveraging technological innovation to build brand advantages by strengthening brand building and creating the X-Band family of all-scenario and high-quality optical fibres. In addition, YOFC keeps improving quality and commits itself to excellence by complying with the standards with respect to the China, Asian and European Quality Awards and fulfilling YOFC's ongoing commitment to quality, service and reputation. In the meantime, YOFC plans to further implement its international roadmap by continuously expanding its global marketing network and providing premium products and services to 5G and F5G subscribers worldwide."

To capitalize on the new opportunities presented by the global optical sector, YOFC will remain committed to building an all-optical neural network based on fibre to anywhere in the gigabit era, including all-optical communications, data centers, power generation facilities, industrial applications, smart homes, rail transit and education.

During the event, Dr. Zhuang Dan also had a thorough roundtable discussion with senior managers of Corning Inc. and Prysmian Group on development trends of the global optical fibre and cable sector, cutting-edge products and technologies, future innovation priorities and potential markets, and shared unique insights into market and product strategy.

On the evening of November 18 (Beijing time), YOFC's Chief Scientist of Optical Fibre, Mr. MaTai will have dialogues with representatives from enterprises like Corning Inc. on innovation of optical fibres and cables and deliver a keynote speech themed Challenges and Solutions of SDM Fibres in Practical Application. Stay tuned!

Mr. MaTai will shed light on the advantages and disadvantages of Space Division Multiplexing (SDM)-based optical fibres represented by few-mode fibres (FMF) and multi-core fibres (MCF), as well as the challenges facing practical application of SDM-based fibres and possible solutions. He will also share the latest technological achievements made by YOFC in the next-generation SDM-based optical fibres. Particularly, YOFC takes the lead in the technology of manufacturing high-performance multi-bandwidth SDM-based optical fibers that are suitable for application scenarios like data centers and long-distance communications.

In partnership with the global consultancy service provider CRU (Commodity Research Unit), YOFC held many sessions of the World Optical Fiber and Cable Conference since 2015 and it is a long-term partner of this event. 2021 marks the seventh year that the optical communication firm has been deeply involved in the CRU World Optical Fibre and Cable Conference at which it engaged in dialogues with global giants on the development trends of the industry, fully demonstrating CRU's high recognition of YOFC's leadership in the global optical fibre and cable sector.