Avanex chips to power UK-India fiber upgrade
Optoelectronic chip and module manufacturer Avanex is to supply pump laser modules for an upgrade of the world's longest fiber-optic communications link.
Alcatel recently said it had won a contract to upgrade part of the 38 000 km Sea-Me-We 3 submarine cable network, which runs from the UK all the way to Perth, Australia.
And the French communications systems giant is to use Avanex's laser products as part of an upgrade to the UK-India section of the link that is due to be completed by the end of this year.
The selection of Avanex equipment for the network's 10 Gb/s upgrade comes as no surprise, since Alcatel sold its optical components division, Alcatel Optronics, to California-based Avanex in 2003.
The upgrade to the huge Sea-Me-We submarine link is being built to provide the network with sufficient capacity to support the increase in traffic driven by the widespread roll-out of broadband services.
Alcatel will use GaAs-based 980 nm-emitting laser modules from Avanex to pump erbium-doped fiber amplifiers as it deploys its latest dense-wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) submarine line terminal.
Alcatel will also upgrade all terrestrial stations along the course of the link, which passes through France, Portugal, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Somalia en route from the UK to India.
For Avanex, the contract comes at a time when the company is still struggling to reduce its financial losses as the fiber-optic market finally starts to gather momentum.
The company recently reduced its expectations on revenue for the current quarter: "We have seen some pressure due to the deteriorating dollar/euro exchange rate and annual product pricing negotiations," reasoned CEO Jo Major.
Major added that Avanex was actively considering further restructuring of the company to reduce its cost base. Avanex made a net loss of $24.4 million on revenue of just $41.9 million in its most recent quarter, with its major competitors in the optical component space enduring similar struggles.
Avanex now expects its revenue in the current quarter to be between $40 million and $42 million.
