As the spring is drawing near, we have rung out the fruitful year of 2017 and ushered in the highly anticipated 2018. On this occasion, I would like to extend, on behalf of Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company (YOFC), the New Year’s blessings to our customers and all the leaders at various levels and friends from all walks of life who have long been concerned about and support our development, as well as sincere wishes and heartfelt thanks to our employees for your hard work and dedication over the past year! I would also like to express my highest respect and best regards to all the family members of our employees who silently support our work!

The last year witnessed the vigorous, memorable development of the global optical fibre and cable industry. With the further implementation of the “Broadband China” Strategy, successive promulgation of the state policies concerning the big data, cloud computing and Internet of Things, and global competition for 5G, the optical fibre and cable market remained booming and its demand for new products increasingly enhanced. In 2017, the three major telecom operators in China saw totally 238 million core-km optical fibre and cable deployed, an overall growth in the major overseas markets and a global market demand for 500 million core km. In this favorable context, all YOFC members were dedicated to their work, jointly making brilliant achievements: 

In 2017, we further developed our main business of optical fibre perform and optical fibre and cable. In a better market situation, the company’s production capacity was further optimized. YOFC Qianjiang Science Park and Zhejiang Lianfei Optical Fibre and Cable Co., Ltd. have been put into production; YOFC branches in Lanzhou and Shenyang completed the optimization of their production capacity; the newly established YOFC Indonesia was under construction; and sales companies were established in Thailand and the Philippines, further improving the local production and sales services overseas and significantly enhancing the ability in product supply at home and abroad. In addition, YOFC made new breakthroughs in market expansion, becoming a finalist for the procurement projects of many provincial radio and television companies. It repeatedly won the bid of the domestic telecom operators’ centralized procurement with the highest share, further consolidating its market position.

In the past year, we actively implemented the relevant business diversification strategy. Diversification is regarded by YOFC as an important wing of development. In 2017, we continued to promote the “whole industry chain” in an orderly manner. After Wuhan Yunjingfei Optical Fibre Material Co., Ltd. went into operation, Hubei Optical Fibre Material Co., Ltd. was completed and put into production. An expert team was established for the downstream consulting service business, significantly enhancing the project management and delivery capabilities and logging big overseas orders once and again. Other diversified businesses expanded in scale, and the specialty products saw steady growth in both revenue and profit. EverPro Technologies made remarkable progress in customer development and sales revenue, Wuhan YOFC General Cable Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen YOFC Connectivity Technologies Co., Ltd. also registered substantial increase in sales volume year-on-year, effectively supporting YOFC’s substantial growth in scale.

Last year, we still adhered to innovation. The innovation in product and technology is an inexhaustible motive force for our company’s development and also an engine that leads the development of the entire industry. In 2017, we advanced the implementation of the "multi-process route". Launched by Yangtze Optical Fibre (Qianjiang) Limited Company, Shin-Etsu YOFC (Hubei) Optical Preform Co., Ltd., the optical fibre perform project was completed and put into production, comprehensively enhancing our ability in self-production and supply of the optical fibre perform. Moreover, YOFC took the lead in making significant progress in the ULL-G654 optical fibre in the industry. Our self-developed and produced ULL-G654 optical fibre was successfully applied to the world's first ULL-G654 terrestrial cable - China Unicom’s Jinan-Qingdao Line & Haba Line and the world's longest ULL-G654 terrestrial cable - China Mobile’s Beijing-Nanjing first-grade trunk line. We also cooperated with the State Grid to complete a number of ULL-G654 optical fibre transmission experiments, becoming the first enterprise in the industry to master ULL-G654 optical fibre production technology. At the same time, we made great achievements in product research and development. YOFC was selected by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology as one of the first demonstration enterprise for manufacturing with single titles, and won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award again since it was the winner 12 years ago, as well as the first prize of the Science and Technology Award of Chinese Institute of Electronics and other national-level technology awards, highlighting our leading status in the technological research and development field of the industry. 

In the past year, we gained widespread recognition in the capital market. 2017 was the third year after YOFC was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. After it was included into MSCI All China Small Cap Index, YOFC entered the Hang Seng Composite MidCap & SmallCap Index Constituent List and Hang Seng Stock Connect Hong Kong Index Series respectively as well as the list of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, logging an increase of over 140% in its stock prize. It was granted the title of the “Listed Enterprises of the Year 2017” by the magazine Bloomberg Businessweek / Chinese Edition and the Golden Bauhinia Award of China Securities – the “Best Investment Value Award for Listed Companies”, showing the full recognition of its performance and industry leadership by the capital market. At present, YOFC has submitted an application for initial public offering of A shares to China Securities Regulation Commission, which has formally accepted and handled the application.

The previous year saw continued enhancement of YOFC’s brand influence. After the first World Optical Fibre and Cable Conference in Wuhan in 2016, we joined hands with CRU again to hold this event again in 2017. Thanks to our efforts made to explore an excellent performance management model for years, we won the 17^th “National Quality Award”, becoming the first and also the only winner of this award in the industry. We were also rated as the second place among the “Top 10 Optical Fibre and Cable Enterprises in the World” and the first place among the “Top 10 Optical Fibre and Cable Enterprises in China”, and bestowed the Gold Award of ICQCC International Quality Management Team and other awards. Due to its outstanding performance in product quality and smart manufacturing, the CCTV News, Dialogue and other programs covered YOFC, continuously enhancing its brand influence.

Our achievements are attributed to the support of our clients, suppliers, investors and other parties concerned, the care and encouragement of all leaders and social personages, the wisdom and hard work of all our members and their family members’ selfless dedication. Here, I would like to express, on behalf of YOFC management, our heartfelt thanks to our customers, all parties concerned, all leaders at various levels, social personages from all walks of life and all our colleagues.    

China has entered a new era of the Internet. Following the world trend of informatization, YOFC has also stood at a new historical starting point. The progress of the times allows no onlookers while YOFC has actively taken part in the development of the times. In 2018, it will celebrate its 30th birthday. Thanks to its perseverance and devotion for three decades, it has turned into a leader from an industry follower, witnessing the development of China's optical communications industry and inspiring all its employees to forge ahead on a new journey. To realize the intelligent life of “information is available at will and all things are within reach” in the future, we need solid technologies and hardware to provide strong support for the new generation of Internet. Standing at a starting point, YOFC will, pursuing its mission of “Smart Link, Better Life” and upholding its core values of “Client Focus, Accountability, Innovation and Stakeholder Benefits”, continue to promote the widespread use of optical fibre technology, provide quality products and solutions for information transmission and smart links, reward investors, customers, partners and employees with better performance, boost the vigorous development of the world optical communications industry as a leader, and usher in the era of Internet of Everything with a sense of mission to rejuvenate the nation’s economy.

I believe that as long as we remain true to our original aspiration and do our best, we can certainly build a bridge for smoother human communications, eliminate the imbalance in the digital divide and development, and promote the harmonious and sustainable development of the entire society.

Finally, I wish you a Happy New Year, every success in your work, good health and happiness!

Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company

Executive Director and President Zhuang Dan