Eddie Edwards, OFS president and chief executive, said his company -- formerly the Lucent Technologies Optical Fiber Solutions business -- wanted to reopen its business in the very important Chinese market.

In November last year, Lucent sold the division to Furukawa - a Japanese optical communications giant -- with minority ownership by CommScope, a leader in broadband coaxial cables. The deal included all Lucent's patents in the field and all of its optical plants across the world except two in China.

Loseph Chan, managing director of the OFS Asia and China operations, said the company had a quarter of the market when it was part of Lucent and it intended to continue to perform well.

Edwards said OFS is planning to build a cable facility in China, which is expected to be operational in one year.

The facility will have access to all of the company's fiber and cable designs, and the exact site of the location is currently being investigated, Edwards said.

But he said the firm will not purchase Lucent's cable plant in Beijing or its fibre facility in Shanghai since Lucent will sell these to other companies.

He said OFS will head off fierce competition and expand its market share in China through technological innovation. OFS owns more than 600 patents and employs 300 former Bell Laboratories optical designers.

According to world telecom analysts, China will install a total of 65 million kilometres of fibre cable between 2001 and 2005.

(China Daily June 20, 2002)