In 2002, the global telecommunications industry entered an adjustment period, and the global fiber optic market demand shrank dramatically. The demand decreased from 110 million core kilometers in 2001 to approximately 60 million core kilometers in 2002. This is the first negative growth in the global optical fiber industry in 20 years. , The global optical fiber industry has seen a serious surplus in its expanding production capacity for more than ten years. Although China's domestic demand has remained relatively stable, but due to foreign manufacturers dumping large quantities of Chinese market and domestic manufacturers selling to each other, the entire domestic optical fiber industry has also been caught in an unprecedented "winter", and even once appeared "fiber than the 'fans' is also cheaper "The situation. However, since 2009, multiple favorable factors have brought major opportunities for the development of China's optical fiber industry:
1. The development of the optical fiber industry is increasingly valued by related agencies
In March 2010, seven ministries and commissions such as the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the “Opinions on Promoting the Construction of Fiber-optic Broadband Networksâ€: the investment in optical fiber broadband network construction will exceed 150 billion yuan in three years, and the number of newly added broadband users will exceed 50 million; April 2010, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology Eight other departments jointly issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Third-generation Mobile Communication Network Construction": From 2010 to 2011, the total investment in the construction of 3G networks will reach 240 billion yuan. The development of the optical fiber industry is also highly valued by various localities. In September 2009, Tianjin Xinmao Technology Co., Ltd. and Wuhan Changfei Fiber Optic & Optical Cable Co., Ltd. joined forces and established a joint venture with 220 million yuan to establish Tianjin Changfei Xinmaoguang Communication Co., Ltd. Settled in Tianjin Binhai High-tech Zone; In November 2009, the Oriental Optical Group's communications-grade plastic optical fiber industrial park with an investment of 2.63 billion yuan was started construction in Chongqing Jiangjin Shuangfu New District, and it is planned to be completed in 2011. Not only China but the U.S. agencies concerned recently mentioned in a proposal to the U.S. Congress that by 2015, home broadband will be upgraded to 50M, and by 2020 it will be 100M, with a scale of 100 million households. With the construction of 3G networks and the expansion of fiber to the home (FTTH) in China, the rapid expansion of the optical fiber market, policy orientation and support will rapidly advance the development of the optical fiber industry.
2. Rapid recovery of market demand
In 2009, the demand for optical fiber and cable in China increased by 80% compared with 2008, reaching about 88 million kilometer cores, accounting for 48% of the world's total volume of 180 million fiber core kilometers. Chinese operators formally began laying FTTx (Fiber Optic Access) commercial networks in 2008. In 2009, FTTx completed 23 million lines, an increase of 4.75 times year-on-year, and the market size was 20 billion yuan, an increase of 5.6 times year-on-year. Optical fiber has been widely used in military, Internet, finance, transportation, environmental protection, monitoring, medical, cultural and aerospace and other fields. From a long-term strategic perspective, the optical fiber industry should be a strategic industry supported and developed by the country. In 2009, the production capacity of major fiber manufacturers in China was 50 million core kilometers, while the domestic optical fiber demand was between 65 million and 70 million core kilometers, and the gap was 15 million to 20 million core kilometers. The situation of the shortage of optical fiber in 2010 will not change.
3. Chinese and foreign enterprises move from competition to competition and cooperation, which is conducive to industrial development
Imported optical fiber has dominated the domestic market. In 2001, the United States Corning’s share in the domestic optical fiber market was as high as 41%. Since 2005, China has imposed anti-dumping duties on some imported optical fibers. The scale of domestic companies such as Changfei and Zhongtian has expanded rapidly. By 2007, the share of domestic optical fiber has reached over 80%. At present, most foreign-funded enterprises (Sumitomo, Fujikura, Corning, etc.) have established joint-venture optical fiber or cable companies in China. Domestic joint ventures gradually replace imported optical fiber, which has occupied half of China's optical fiber market. The rise of domestic optical network equipment vendors, such as Huawei, has stimulated the domestic optical communications market and attracted foreign optical communication vendors to cooperate. From 2004 to 2008, the share of Huawei, ZTE, and FiberHome in the domestic optical network equipment market increased from 60% to 80% to 90%. Huawei also became the world's second largest supplier of optical network equipment. The world’s top three optical component manufacturers Finisar and Oclaro are major suppliers of optical network equipment vendors in China. Their revenues in China account for 14% and 31% of their global revenue, respectively. The domestic market share is 10% and 9.4% respectively. In March 2010, optical component manufacturer Emcore announced the establishment of a joint venture for optical devices in China. Since 2008, Ericsson and Canada's BTI optical systems have cooperated with Fiberhome Communications to launch an integrated optical network solution. The joining of many foreign manufacturers will help bring technological breakthroughs to China's optical fiber industry.
Although the development of the optical fiber industry as a whole is good, some issues facing the development of China's optical fiber industry need to be highly valued.
1. China's optical fiber industry's independent innovation capability needs to be strengthened
China's fiber-optic communications started relatively late. There are still some gaps in fiber R&D, production, core technologies, and key links, compared with foreign countries. In particular, there is an urgent need for breakthroughs in product yield issues.
2. Upstream and downstream coordination and communication in the optical fiber communication industry chain needs to be strengthened
At present, the scale of optical fiber access (FTTx) construction of China's telecom operators has reached 4.5 million subscriber ports, but it currently faces issues such as business needs, product standardization, and large-scale production. These issues require the close cooperation of upstream and downstream companies in the industrial chain.
3. Beware of overcapacity risks
Because of the long industry chain and obvious economic double-benefit benefits, many provinces and cities in China have issued relevant industrial development plans. In some places, there has even been a trend of overcapacity and disorderly competition, and there is an urgent need to strengthen guidance at the national level.
To solve the problems faced in the development of the optical fiber industry and further promote the development of the national optical fiber industry, we need to start from the following aspects: First, we should establish a technical standard alliance to increase the technological investment of enterprises. The alliance of technical standards plays an important role in achieving standardized strategies among enterprises, reducing standardization risks and costs, harmonizing technical standards, and contradicting intellectual property rights. The key enterprises and leading enterprises in the optical fiber industry should increase investment in technology research and development and technological transformation, strive to improve the level of product technology and production technology, strive to achieve breakthroughs in the key areas of optical fiber production, and form a group of products with independent intellectual property rights. Second, strengthen the cooperation between enterprises and industry associations. Should give full play to the role of management and coordination of industry associations, on the one hand to resolve disputes and conflicts between optical fiber companies, enhance mutual exchanges and cooperation, and create an atmosphere of harmonious development of the industry; on the other hand, coordination of optical fiber companies and operators, supply The relationship between business and the promotion of mutual benefit and common development between the industrial chain and the supply chain. Third, joint efforts should be made to jointly tackle international trade barriers. At present, China's optical fiber products are still in the initial stage of "going out". With the continuous growth of China's optical fiber products exports, more and more international trade barriers will be encountered in the future. In order to protect domestic companies, some governments will also take various measures to limit the input of Chinese products. In this regard, domestic optical fiber companies must have corresponding countermeasures and adequate ideological preparations. When encountering foreign anti-dumping investigations, they must unite and cooperate. Under the organization of industry associations (communities), they should respond actively to maximize protection. Its own legitimate rights and interests. Finally, in light of China's actual situation, the overall plan for the development of the optical fiber industry should be planned in an integrated manner. Actively integrate the optical fiber industry resources, promote the establishment of a harmonious optical fiber industry development environment, and prevent excess capacity.