Amid the vigorous development of the digital economy and the iterative upgrading of communication technologies, China's optical cable industry has achieved remarkable accomplishments in recent years. It has comprehensively driven the innovation of domestic information and communication infrastructure and secured a significant position on the international stage.
I. Global Leadership in Technological Innovation
China has continuously made breakthroughs in the core technologies of optical fibers and cables, leading the world in this field. Taking hollow-core fiber technology as an example, research teams, based on the principle that light travels faster in air than in glass, have overcome challenges in raw material synthesis, capillary preparation, and drawing processes, successfully developing a new type of hollow-core fiber. Tests show that its optical signal transmission speed has increased by approximately 47%, and transmission latency has decreased by about 30%, greatly breaking through the transmission bottlenecks of traditional optical fibers. Currently, this technology has been piloted in multiple domestic locations. For instance, China Telecom Hangzhou Branch launched the longest on-site experimental application demonstration project of hollow-core fibers in China, planning to lay over 90 kilometers of cables. The first phase has completed the laying of 59.13 kilometers, laying a solid foundation for ultra-high-speed communication in the future 6G era.
In terms of submarine optical cable technology, Chinese enterprises have taken the lead in launching 32-fiber-pair submarine cable solutions and a full range of products, realizing a leap from 6-fiber-pair and 12-fiber-pair to 32-fiber-pair cables. This is equivalent to upgrading the undersea "high-speed corridors" from 6 bidirectional lanes to 32 bidirectional lanes, significantly increasing transmission capacity. This innovative achievement has notably enhanced China's competitiveness in the international communication submarine cable market and strongly promoted the interconnection of global communication networks.
II. Outstanding Achievements in Network Construction
The scale of China's optical cable network construction has continued to expand, with steady improvements in quality. In 2024, the total length of national optical cable lines reached 72.88 million kilometers, with 856,200 kilometers of new optical cable lines laid—1.8 times the new length of the previous year. Among them, the year-on-year growth rates of local network relay optical cable lines and access network optical cable lines reached 19.9% and 9.9% respectively. The construction of trunk networks has entered a new phase, with the large-scale deployment of 400G backbone networks officially launched. High-speed transmission channels between the country's eight major hub nodes, as well as between hubs and surrounding major cities and key provinces, have been initially established, leading to significant improvements in transmission bandwidth, network capacity, and ultra-low latency performance.
The coverage of the "Dual 1000M" network (1000M fiber broadband and 1000M 5G) has achieved remarkable results, exceeding the targets of the 14th Five-Year Plan ahead of schedule. It has realized 1000M fiber coverage in all counties, 5G coverage in all towns, and 5G coverage in over 90% of administrative villages. This has provided solid network support for the development of the digital economy and promoted the vigorous growth of new business formats such as remote work, online education, and smart healthcare.
III. Industrial Innovation Stimulating Vitality
The digital transformation of the optical cable industry has yielded remarkable results, with some factories becoming industry benchmarks. Starting from top-level design, these digital factories have streamlined business processes, solved problems in all links from R&D to delivery, and realized the automated flow of data and physical objects. Through measures such as building cloud-based big data platforms, introducing APS (Advanced Planning and Scheduling) systems, creating full-plant intelligent logistics systems, and deploying "Dual 1000M" networks, they have increased production efficiency by 20%, reduced front-line production personnel by 14%, decreased material consumption by 6.7%, and achieved 100% equipment data collection coverage. These practices have provided valuable experience for the digital transformation of the entire optical cable manufacturing industry.
Meanwhile, enterprises have actively carried out industry-university-research cooperation, joining hands with universities and research institutions to tackle technical challenges and promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements. For example, supported by the National Key R&D Program, efforts have been made to tackle key issues in basic optical access technologies. Ultra-fine optical fibers have been successfully developed, and ultra-large-core-count optical cables (such as 3,456-core cables) have been realized. The capacity of these cables is more than twice that of ordinary cables of the same size, reaching the international advanced level. In this process, 60 authorized invention patents have been obtained, 8 national standards and 7 industry standards have been formulated, and 3 international standard manuscripts have been submitted—greatly enhancing China's right to speak in the formulation of optical cable industry standards.
IV. International Expansion Demonstrating Strength
Chinese optical cable enterprises have actively responded to the "Going Global" strategy, deeply participating in international market competition and playing an important role in the construction of global communication networks. By establishing overseas production bases, offices, and R&D centers, they have built a sound global marketing and service network, covering more than 90 countries and regions with their products and services.
In countries along the "Belt and Road," Chinese enterprises have undertaken a number of major communication infrastructure projects, providing strong support for the upgrading of local communication networks. For instance, in Peru, Chinese enterprises have undertaken a national broadband cooperation project, providing broadband services to over 1 million people and covering numerous remote towns, schools, police stations, and hospitals. They have also built supporting Internet access centers and related training facilities, strongly promoting the process of local informatization. In terms of international communication submarine cable construction, Chinese enterprises have completed a number of ultra-long-distance and large-capacity submarine cable systems connecting various parts of the world, with a total of over 100,000 kilometers of new submarine cable systems laid. This has significantly increased China's share and influence in the international submarine cable market.