Global cables giant Prysmian has revealed that it has ambitious plans to grow its market presence in both China and India as part of a global expansion programme.

Speaking at the FTTH Council conference in Lisbon today, the group’s telecoms business director Hakan Ozmen said that although Prysmian already had facilities in China and major customers including China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile, he was looking for new partners as part of a bid to increase market share.

In India, where Prysmian was already very successful through its partner network, Ozmen said that the company was now considering establishing production within the country to further boost its presence.

Prysmian has a major presence at the event – the most prestigious of its type in Europe. Among visitors to see its latest technology has been the Prime Minister of Portugal, Jose Socrates, who talked at length with Ozmen and also Prysmian’s local Portuguese partner Cabelte Cabos Electricos e Telefonicos S.A. The two companies have just signed an agreement under which they will jointly develop and market FTTH solutions in Portugal and overseas.

“Portugal is one of the fastest growing fibre rich environments in the region,” explained Ozmen.

“Plans are in place to provide maximum fibre penetration into the access network to provide high speed broadband and we are confident that Prysmian – working with Cabelte – will be a major player”.

Prysmian’s telecoms business is part of the wider Prysmian Group, a truly global company with sales of more than five billion euros. Prysmian has subsidiaries in 38 countries, 53 plants in 21 countries and seven research and development centres across Europe, USA and South America.