Today fiber optics ranges from large companies to practically the home desk, thanks to a very high growth potential. Nowadays, every business and person want to have innovation and technological investment prepared for the future. 
 
The fiber optic market faces a new era of development as 5G networks begin to roll out. 

What benefit does fiber optics have over other technologies? this material is ideal to achieve the high performance claimed by 5G, as it provides over thousand times more bandwidth than a copper link, for example. The lack of alternatives and the general demand for fiber optics will make this segment of the cable industry increasingly attractive for investment in Latin America. 

Lucas Samyn, product engineer on Furukawa Electric, comments that, during the last decade, fiber optics has established itself as the main alternative for high-speed connectivity to support the growth of data, voice and video transmission, both for homes and businesses. What drives it today is that there are higher and stronger investments that companies and governments are making currently around the world. 

Fiber optic implementations today represent the key element for the technological infrastructure that will consolidate the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart cities, under the framework of the digital era and Big Data. 

According to “World Optical Fiber Cables Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights”,  as countries roll out 5G networks, increased demand is expected to significantly boost the fiber optic market to reach 1.5 million tons in 2030. This new generation of mobile broadband will require the construction of dense base station networks connected by optical fiber cables. The United States, China, Japan and the EU are expected to become the most lucrative markets for the sale and distribution of fiber optics in the near future. 

For the Furukawa executive, one of the areas that is projected to be of interest in the coming years is health, which will follow a path of significant growth and be an important factor for the industry. Other sectors with great potential would be the food and automotive sectors. 

Likewise, with the increase in demand for fiber optics as a technology, new sectors of implementation and investments in energy are created, such as oil and gas, and in the installation of wind and solar farms. Finally, there is the Smart Cities market, driven especially by governments. 

According to globaltrademag , one of the largest consumers of fiber optics is China with 135,000 tons in 2020, taking the lead with its 5G implementation rate. 
 
The United States ranks second in consumption with 125,000 tons in 2020; while Joe Biden's administration has announced that it will allocate 100 billion dollars to develop the broadband access infrastructure within its eight-year plan. This should accelerate expansion of the country's 5G network coverage. 

"Fiber optics will be key in keeping the world's largest economies on the right foot and, of course, the rest of the developing countries, as they are in our region," says Lucas. 

The Furukawa executive believes that the changes experienced as a result of the pandemic and the mobility of users; will demand greater connectivity associated with IoT (Internet of Things) devices, as well as an increase in Edge Data Centers. At the same time, more and more users require greater data processing power, in the field and with low latency. Therefore, both companies and governments will have fiber optics as a key element in their development.