R&M opens new fibre optic plant in India
DUBAI, May 28, 2024
R&M, the globally active Swiss developer and provider of high-end infrastructure solutions for data and communications networks, has opened a new fibre optic plant in India in mid-May.
The entire infrastructure was relocated to Bagaluru, in the north of Bangalore. Investments were also made in new production lines and production capacity was further increased. Bagaluru is R&M’s largest site worldwide for the manufacture of fibre optic cabling components.
Laurent Amestoy, EVP Asia Pacific, said: “Demand for fibre optic connectivity solutions from R&M is increasing in India and Asia in general. The driving forces are broadband supply, 5G, and data centres. That’s why we’re building up additional manufacturing capacities here. The fibre optic plant plays a key role in our regional growth strategy and strengthens our position as a top-quality vendor of connectivity infrastructure solutions.”
Global function
“With this investment, we are reaffirming R&M’s commitment to a long-term involvement in the growth market of India. The new plant will also assume a global function. As the largest production site, it provides flexible and responsive resources for our supply chain. This makes us more competitive and also ready for a new upswing in western markets,” said R&M CEO Michel Riva.
“Bagaluru provides the ideal premises in the dynamic industrial agglomeration of Bangalore. The plant is located just ten kilometres from the international airport. Spread over three floors, the new building offers flexible expansion options and 400-500 modern workplaces. Our production operation works in accordance with the high Swiss quality standards that R&M represents worldwide. Due to demand, we are already planning two- and three-shift operations,” said Markus Stieger, COO of R&M.
Demand on site
R&M has had its own production facilities in India since 2014. Initially, the focus was on assembling fibre optic patch cords for the global market. In 2018, R&M opened a plant with 200 workplaces in Jakkur near Bangalore. Demand on site increased rapidly with the broadband rollout and rapid data centre growth.
Today, R&M supplies India’s entire telecom industry as well as metro and smart city projects with a comprehensive fibre optic portfolio. In addition to infrastructure solutions for FTTx networks, R&M India also offers the development of dedicated cabling solutions for enterprises and data centres. Since 2023, R&M has been very successful with fibre optic connectivity solutions for the base stations of the new 5G networks in India.--TradeArabia News Service