PRYSMIAN REACHES 150,000 KM INSTALLED BASE FOR OPGW

Milan, 28 January 2010 - Prysmian Cables & Systems, leading worldwide player in the energy and telecom cable industry, has reached a major milestone with its Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) business with the latest delivery of a system which takes its total installed worldwide cable volume past the 150,000km mark.

OPGW cable forms an integral part of an overhead electricity network, performing both the primary function of a conventional earth conductor together with the provision of a state-of-the-art communications link thanks to the optical fibres contained within.

The milestone project is being carried out with one of the main power utilities in Eastern Europe, with the cable manufactured at Prysmian's main facility at Vilanova, near Barcelona together with the production unit in Soracaba, Brazil. The optical fibres within the cable were also produced by Prysmian at the company’s facility in Battipaglia, Italy.

Since supply of OPGW began in 1984, Prysmian’s  aluminium tube technology design  has continued to demonstrate its superior performance and long term reliability in a wide range of environments in all five continents around the world and with additional OPGW production facilities  in Wuxi, China, Prysmian has maintained its position as world leader in the OPGW market.

"This is an important achievement for us and confirms the commitment shown by our customers in our OPGW system over the last quarter of a century" said Mr Raul Gil, head of Prysmian’s global OPGW business. "We have now installed our system in more than 80 countries around the world and we are delighted to reach this significant point in the product's history"