Broadband News

A new type of optical fibre has been developed which is able to bend around tight corners with no leaking of light, which will be able to offer broadband at much higher speeds.

Corning Incorporated who are based in New York, have developed this brand new fibre which they claim is “over 100 times more bendable than standard fibres.” Although the company refuse to state how the fibre is constructed, Monica Ott, Corning’s head of marketing communications claims “it’s a way of controlling the refractive index profile, or the light trapping ability. We use nanoscale structures inside the fibre, instead of changing the material composition of the glass.”

Ott states that the new fibre is as practical as copper wiring, with the ability to manoeuvre the cable into any position giving massive opportunities of bring fibre to people’s homes. Ott continues by saying “When you think about how it needs to be rolled out in buildings… it’s stapled, it’s pulled round tight corners. It allows you to just handle it differently without protecting the fibre so much… With typical fibre if you’re bending it or stretching it, you might need a thicker cable. With this new breakthrough you can have much smaller cable.”

With these breakthrough developments, Corning believe that broadband providers will be able to provide high speed broadband, HDTV and voice protocol to every business and home in the country. With BT speculating currently over whether to install fibre around the country, this could prove a helpful boost, as according to Ott the new fibre will require less equipment in exchanges, less labour and fewer materials during the restructuring process

Corning Incorporate intend to launch this new fibre and associated technology at the US Fibre To The Home show this coming September. There is currently no date set for a UK launch.