EoW November 2013

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News
Corporate
November 2013 11
New data on broadband subscriptions from the Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows a
steady trend increase in fibre adoption, with the share of fibre
subscriptions in fixed broadband increasing to 14.9 per cent (up
to 48.7 million fibre broadband lines). Fibre grew by 12.7 per cent
in 2012, four times as much as fixed broadband at 3.27 per cent.
Luxembourg (324%), Austria (193.9%), United Kingdom (169.9%)
and Switzerland (149.6%) experienced the strongest growth in
fibre, while seven countries had growth rates above 100 per cent
year-on-year and 11 countries over 50 per cent.
Japan and Korea still maintain a strong OECD leadership in
fibre broadband penetration, with over 60 per cent of fixed
broadband lines based on fibre technology. The fibre shares in
Estonia, Sweden and the Slovak Republic are over 30 per cent.
Switzerland, Netherlands and Denmark top the OECD’s fixed
broadband penetration ranking. The OECD’s average fixed
broadband penetration is 26.3 lines per 100 inhabitants (327.2
million subscriptions).
Wireless broadband increased by 13.8 per cent year-on-year, and
reached a penetration of 62.75 lines per 100 inhabitants, up from
58.6 in June 2012.
The total number of wireless broadband subscriptions in the
OECD area is just above 780 million. Finland (106.5), Sweden
(104.8), Australia (103.4) and Korea (103.0) have over one
subscriber per capita.
OECD – UK
Website:
Newcastle, UK, law firm Muckle
LLP has advised on a series of sub-sea
engineering deals worth $75.5m.
The firm has advised Jersey Electricity plc
on a project that will provide Jersey with a
third submarine power cable from France,
enabling access to low carbon electricity.
A contract with Prysmian Group will see
35km of high voltage alternate current
submarine cable installed, and a separate
contract with English subsidiary Prysmian
Cables and Systems Ltd is for the supply
and installation of 7km of 90,000-volt land
cable.
The cabling will connect the island with
a substation at Periers, entering the sea
at Pirou Plage on the French coast and
coming ashore in Grouville Bay in Jersey.
The work involved intense negotiation
with Prysmian’s Italian legal team, and
since these contracts were completed
in February this year, Muckle LLP has
also advised on a further two ancillary
contracts supporting the cable link to
France.
Robert Langley, head of the construction
and engineering team, said: “The
work to manufacture the cable for the
sub-sea connection is now underway at
Prysmian’s facility in Naples, with a view
to this new supply being connected next
year and to be in service during 2015.
“We appreciate the importance and
significance of this development, not
just for Jersey Electricity and the other
organisations involved, but also for the
Channel Islands. We look forward to
working with the team at Jersey Electricity
in the future.“
Muckle LLP – UK
Website:
Since it was opened in 2004, William Hughes’ production facility
in Bulgaria has expanded four-fold.
Located near Plovdiv, the 4,320m2 custom-built factory employs
131 people and its scope and product capability continue to
grow as new machinery and processes are added.
William Hughes specialises in the manufacture of springs
and bent wire assemblies. Production is split between its UK
headquarters in Stalbridge, Dorset, and Bulgaria.
Torsion springs are a particular area of expertise in Plovdiv and
there is a strong local demand for this type of spring.
As demand has grown, new machinery and processes have
been installed in Bulgaria to help support the UK manufacturing
facility.
In 2012, four new wire-forming machines were installed,
bringing the total in Bulgaria to 29, and robot-welding capacity
has doubled.
New finishing processes have also been installed, enabling wire
parts to be coated with Delta Tone and Delta Seal for corrosion
protection.
Max Hughes, managing director of William Hughes, said:
“Establishing our first overseas production facility was an
exciting experience.
“We have seen a growing demand for our products from the
developing local markets in Romania, Serbia and Turkey as
well as the traditional markets in the UK, Poland, France and
Germany.
“We are delighted with the continuing success of the project.
With our reinvestment programme, we look forward to the
continuing growth of our facilities to the benefit of both the local
economy and our overall UK capability.”
William Hughes Ltd – UK
Website:
Production extended at spring facility in Bulgaria
Jersey sub-sea cabling plans worth $75m
Broadband statistics update confirms increase in fibre adoption
Alcatel-Lucent and Telkom
Indonesia are to develop a 3,000km
optic fibre network infrastructure
to connect the islands of Sulawesi,
Maluku, and Papua in the
Indonesian archipelago.
This will open up new opportunities
to improve the competitiveness of
the region for economic and social
development.
Capable of supporting data speeds
of 100G per second, the system will
deliver an ultimate capacity of up to
16Tbit per second.
Alcatel-Lucent – France
Website:
Island connections