FROM THE INDUSTRY
the others. In this extreme example, 11 splices are avoided. We demonstrate that this technology saves up to 65% in the number of splices. At the local level, this represents hundreds of millions of euros in savings and several million nationally. How does Nanomodule technology really tackle market issues? In most of the countries where FTTH is rolled out, there is a pressure on skilled labour. In France, when the peak of the roll out was reached, with 6.9M Homes Passed a year, 33,000 technicians were employed. It takes a lot of time to get enough trained people as a lot of different skills are required and the more technical they are, the more difficult to source, train and pay for. The cost-of-living crisis sees a demand for higher salaries which impacts on the cost of deployment. With the Nanomodule technology, much fewer splicers are required. We built a model to calculate the saved full-time equivalent workers. For a million Homes Passed, this can represent up to 300 saved FTE.
How does that tie in with our carbon footprint? Indeed, those savings go together with lower carbon impacts. With this technology, the traditional petroleum- based module is replaced by a textile thread which surrounds the fibres. Less oil means less carbon for sure, but less material around the fibres also means less clutter and as a consequence a smaller diameter for the outer jacket. But disrupting technology can be difficult. Incremental innovation is easy because you don’t change much as you go along. You make small savings without any big changes. We work with people all along the supply chain because this has to be seen as a whole, in order to see the value of it. The installer can work faster, can be more competitive, or can take on more business or can be more profitable. It’s a win-win situation between the operator, the installer and ACOME. But we need to convince people this is normal practice. We’ve been operating on this basis for a year now. We have already commercial successes with Altnets. They are usually more able to make quick decisions. The real challenge is with the market leaders. It’s about overcoming a certain mindset. How does this affect your overall outlook? In the UK, our innovations have been well received and trials are underway. The market is quite dynamic; the roll out of 4.7M Homes Passed between Sept. 2022 and 2023 according to the Market Panorama from the FTTH Council is impressive. Germany was in second place, with the roll out of 4.4M Homes Passed, but also has a larger population. Germany is still lagging behind with less than 40% coverage. The work of what we call ‘conviction for innovation’ usually takes more time. France, Ireland and Portugal are now close to the end. ACOME had a significant market share in those countries. All these markets have a majority deployment of aerial cables in common - an area in which we have a recognised level of expertise. Europe has now achieved roughly 70% coverage. We note two different trends: the construction was 10% less than the year before, while connection (fibre adoption) had been 20% more
carbon emissions, therefore preserving our “carbon budget”. Same for new energy vehicles. Each time an electrical car is produced, we know that (after a given number of miles) we will avoid future carbon emissions and we are heading in the right direction. In 2023, ACOME SA emissions totalled 190,000 tons of CO2 equivalent. With the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive), it is a requirement for large European companies to assess and report the carbon emissions of their organisation. There is a methodology to convert an activity into carbon emissions. The more you produce, everything else being equal otherwise, the more carbon you produce too. So for us, a way to be compliant with the Paris Agreement and work towards net zero is to switch from a cable technology to something else. Basically for the same volume you can decrease your footprint.
Exactly.
And how does the Nanomodule contribute to that for ACOME? We have reinvented the way we manufacture an optical cable, with a new patented technological brick called Nanomodule. A cable is made with an outer jacket. Inside you’ll find modules and inside the modules you’ll find the fibres. The way ACOME installs the cables are installed with a so called mid- span technique, meaning that we will not cut all the cable, just remove the sheath. A module is selected and then cut, enabling the needed fibres to be spliced. Let’s say only four fibres are needed to be spliced towards a building, in a module of 12 fibres, it means that, what do you do with the other eight fibres? Either they are wasted, which is not the goal, or, the only other way around is to be spliced on themselves. Nanomodule technology uncovers a waste that is now called non-value-added splices. Some splices made in the field are done to resolve a technical problem, but have no other value than this. Thanks to ACOME’s breakaway technology, if a single fibre needs to be spliced, only one fibre will be removed from the Nanomodule without the need to cut
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Volume 46 No.2 MAY 2024
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