ACOME Outs New 96 Fibre Cable to Boost UK Full Fibre Builds

Fibre manufacturer ACOME has today highlighted the recent introduction of a new ultra lightweight (ULW) 96 fibre cable, which has been designed to help speed up aerial deployments of new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based broadband ISP networks across the UK.

Admittedly, talking about new variants of optical fibre cables can be a bit of a dry topic, so we’ll keep this short. Constructed with ACOME Group’s patented “nanomodule” technology, the new PIA-compliant cable is designed for urban and rural aerial use in the UK market and can fit 96 fibres in each module (some existing methods limit 7mm cables to 48 fibres) – whilst maintaining modules of 12 fibres, essentially allowing network builders to deploy more fibre in the same diameter of cable.

The new 96f cable also claims to address key pain points that installers sometimes face, which they say can help to reduce installation times by an average of 3 hours – not to mention the impact upon future maintenance times. This is partly because the cable is grease and gel free (usually used for added protection), making it easier to handle and install, while eliminating the need for fibre cleansing. The cable is also kink free.

The product was developed following the success of the 72-fibre version of ACOME’s nanomodule cable. FullFibre was able to quickly and cost effectively deploy a 26km-long fibre network spine for the region of Hertfordshire using the new cable. The operator is currently targeting 80+ towns across parts of 11 different counties (e.g. Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Herefordshire and Gloucestershire), but only around 35 of those are active, and their rollout progress remains unclear.

Dan Jones, Technical Delivery Director at FullFibre, said:

“The density and 12-module structure of the cable allowed us to use existing network infrastructure. Without which, we would have had to dig extensively, and the cost and disruption would have been huge.”

Lee Spicer, ACOME key account manager, said:

“The nanomodule is a new building block for making optical fibre products, opening the gateway for new products that were not previously possible. Our focus at ACOME is to make it as easy for the installer as possible and we are delighted to be announcing it to the market at a time when network builders are trying to make their roll outs as efficient, quick, and cost-effective as possible.”

For the uninitiated, that mention of being PIA-compliant simply means that it can be deployed across Openreach’s existing cable ducts and poles. Now, whether operators really need 96f cables for such deployments is another question (future proofing doesn’t hurt, if you can afford it), but it’s good that the option exists and anything that can help to bring down both costs and deployment times is to be welcomed.

We should point out that a number of other UK broadband operators have also been adopting the new cable this year, but none of those were named in the announcement.