RPG-Corning pact to market structured cabling systems

Venkat Pulapaka / Hyderabad

RPG Cables, a leading manufacturer of telecommunication and power cables in India, and Corning Cable Systems GmbH & Co. KG, a subsidiary of Corning Incorporated have entered into a strategic agreement to supply structured cabling systems products for deployment in premise wiring applications in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Anand Jatkar

“With the addition of Corning Cable Systems products, RPG Cables will have a complete range of cabling solutions for the Indian market,” said Anand Jatkar, managing director of RPG Cables. “Corning’s quality and technology, combined with our large marketing network and local expertise will help in meeting the demands of customers for network products. We launched our optical fibre solutions in 1995 and since then have been working with the government and the private sector in India. This huge experience will help our customers of structured cabling systems.”

According to Jatkar, the structured cabling market in India has been growing at a rate of 20 percent and is worth more than Rs 250 crore, as per industry estimates. Structured Cabling Systems (SCS) design considers open architecture and it is application independent, thereby providing the advantages of upgradability, flexibility and future proofing to the user over conventional cabling.

The objective of SCS is to facilitate smooth and uninterrupted heterogeneous traffic and ensure guaranteed performance. SCS comprises copper and fibre cables, connectors and adaptors, patch panels and cards, pigtails and cards.

The key drivers for demand include government support to IT industry, Internet and e-commerce applications, ERP implementation by corporates and the growing PC penetration. The major customer segments for SCS include ISPs, telecom companies, the insurance sector, software technology parks, call centres, software houses, defence, state governments and banking and financial institutions.

The current major players in SCS segment are Avaya Communications, Tyco Electronics (AMP) and Corning. RPG Cables is part of the $1.5 billion RPG Enterprises, which has interests in core sectors like power generation, transmission and distribution, IT and telecommunications, entertainment and life sciences.

RPG Cables’ product range includes fibre optic and jelly-filled telephone cables for telecommunication and high-speed data transfer and a wide range of electrical cables up to 132 KV. The company is a major supplier of telecommunication cables to BSNL, New Delhi and MTNL. Additionally RPG supplies to telecommunications operators in the private sector, as well as leading broadband and CATV operators.