British Cables Company Secures Openreach UK Fibre Contract

The Manchester-based British Cables Company (BCC), which is a manufacturer of various cables, has secured a key multi-million pound contract to supply Openreach with a variety of fibre optic cables to support their ongoing UK rollout of “full fibre” (FTTP) broadband and Ethernet services.

Openreach are currently aiming to extend the coverage of their Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network to reach 25 million UK premises by December 2026 (here), which will obviously require a heck of a lot of new fibre cable.

Apparently, BCC’s contract will “initially” run for 3-years and is said to cover the supply and distribute for “thousands of kilometres” of new cable. We should point out that BCC are just one of several fibre suppliers to Openreach’s network

Nick Bowman, BCC Sales Director, said:

“We are naturally delighted to have gained such significant business from Openreach. We have enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the UK’s largest full fibre builder, historically supplying copper telecommunication cable products to serve the existing Openreach network. So, this is the first time we have supplied fibre optic cables in volume and in a range of specifications. We are currently completing the product approval processes and the first products are in distribution.

The contract comes at a time when the Openreach network is also significantly expanding to fulfil consumer demand for Full Fibre. For this project we teamed up with ZTT, a highly respected fibre cable manufacturer, and our combined strengths meant we could deliver an exceptional tender proposal.

BCC has developed a very capable logistics solution, an essential requirement for Openreach. Our Manchester headquarters is an ideal location with great transport links. Additionally, our 28-acre site means we have tremendous capacity for bulk storage. It means we can provide a complete fulfilment service, from storage to cable cutting and shipping. A total of nine international suppliers have been awarded various elements of the total contract and I am pleased that BCC will provide logistics services to the majority.

Of course, the other great news is that we have increased our head count in Manchester to facilitate the increased volumes. The business here in Blackley was founded in 1895 and once again we are seeing a tremendous vote of confidence in our capabilities and reputation.”

End.