US telecoms giant Verizon Communications has signed a ‘significant supply agreement’ with Prysmian Group, to support its US network expansion. The next-generation fibre platform will accelerate the deployment of 5G services, while improving 4G LTE access and broadband capacity. The three-year contract is worth approximately USD300 million and will include supply of more than 17 million fibre kilometres of ribbon and loose tube cables. Viju Menon, Verizon’s chief supply chain officer, commented: ‘This strategic supply agreement helps ensure we can ramp supply in order to expand our network capacity and speed 5G deployment.’
TeleGeography notes that the contract represents Verizon’s second significant fibre investment in recent weeks; last month the telco signed a USD1 billion, three-year supply deal with New York-based Corning.